


Still Jack and Daniel - Full Circle - IX - Relight the Fire (Final Story)

by Annejackdanny



Series: Still Jack and Daniel Series 3  - Full Circle [9]
Category: Stargate SG-1, The Highlander Series
Genre: Kid Fic, Little Daniel - Freeform, M/M, h/c
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-02-21
Updated: 2013-02-21
Packaged: 2017-11-30 01:10:51
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 21,776
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/693631
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Annejackdanny/pseuds/Annejackdanny
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Jack and the Daniels have settled into their new family dynamic and life is good. But Ba'al's shadow is still looming and it's about time to get rid of him.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Still Jack and Daniel - Full Circle - IX - Relight the Fire (Final Story)

**Author's Note:**

> Warnings: Language, explicit m/m sex, a little bit dark and kinky, bits of dom/sub play (but very mild)
> 
> This final story is very close to my heart. I tried to give the guys the happy end the deserve. This is how it feels right to me.
> 
> Most of my knowledge about the kinky sex mentioned above is based on some of my all time favorite J/D stories and from many enlightening chats with a friend who actually knows what she's talking about. Any and all mistakes regarding the realistic portrayal of said kinky sex are mine – if you love it and think it's doing the series justice, I'm very happy because it worked out for you :)
> 
> If you hate it and think it's totally unbelievable, please be kind enough to just click your back button and leave quietly... thank you :)

**Still Jack and Daniel**

–

**Full Circle**

**IX**

**Relight the Fire**

  


_"Who's to say that love needs to be soft and gentle?"_

_-Dr. Twardon in Secretary (2002)_

  


**I**

“Daniel!”

The voice booming from the kitchen had increased volume and annoyance steadily over the last three times it had called out.

“Which one?” Little Daniel called back, banging at the bathroom door at the same time.

“Both of ya! If you don't have breakfast NOW, we'll be late!”

“Almost done,” came a muffled voice from inside.

“We soooo need another bathroom,” Daniel groaned when the door flew open and BD emerged, dressed only in jeans, hair still damp from the shower. “Tell me you didn't use all the hot water?”

“Nope, there should be plenty left. Hurry up before Jack has a coronary,” BD said with a wink as he hastened past Daniel into the master bedroom.

Daniel slipped into the bathroom, threw his bundle of clothes on the toilet lid and slipped out of his t-shirt and boxers. Still half asleep he took a quick shower, relieved when the water didn't start cooling off dramatically in the middle of washing his hair.

Who would have known that one of the first things they had to learn to coordinate was the bathroom traffic in the mornings and the issue of leaving enough hot water for everyone to shower? Granted, Jack was always up bright and early. The Daniels were the ones squabbling over the bathroom because neither one of them was a morning person and they kept slapping the alarm clock into silence until getting out of bed couldn't be avoided any longer. Or until Jack barged in, relentlessly pulling away bed covers and threatening to pour cold water over them.

Getting up at the last minute had never been an issue when it had just been Jack and Little Daniel because once Daniel was up he was fast and sitting at the breakfast table, with enough time to have his first cup of coffee and a bowl of cereal or toast. But with BD in the mix they kept getting into each other's way because they were usually both late.

Yawning, Daniel toweled himself off and scrubbed a hand through his damp, short hair. He brushed his teeth, put on fresh underwear and dressed into a red sweatshirt and black jeans. The smell of toast and coffee greeted him in the hallway and he quickly went to his room to get his glasses and put on his socks.

When he entered the kitchen, BD was already there, holding his mug of coffee in both hands. He was by the open back door, waiting for Flyboy to finish his second morning trip around the backyard.

Jack was at the table, sipping his own coffee and scowling at his digital organizer. He hated that thing and let everyone know so, loudly, but he had finally gotten used to it because it made it easier to keep track of any last minute changes in his schedule. Jack didn't like the organizer, but he hated not being on the ball more.

“Morning,” Daniel mumbled, reaching for the coffee waiting for him by his plate. He sat down, took the first blissful sip and felt more awake immediately. “We need another bathroom,” he announced.

“You have my vote for it,” BD said from the door.

“Sure, why not. We could turn the pantry into one,” Jack said sarcastically. “How about alarm clocks with a huge sound system?”

“We could put one into the basement,” Daniel suggested. “Into the laundry room. It's big enough for another shower and stuff.”

“I'm not putting in another bathroom just because you two can't get your lazy butts out of bed at a decent hour,” Jack grouched and moved his scowl from the organizer to Daniel.

Buttering his toast, Daniel shrugged. “I'm just saying. And you could install a bigger shower down there. This one's always been too small for two.”

By the door BD coughed into his coffee and Jack snorted. “Eat your toast, Daniel.”

Daniel considered pushing the issue, then spread jam on his toast and started eating. The issue was none of his business, he reminded himself. The sex issue, not the bathroom issue.

BD hadn't exactly spilled it to him, but Daniel didn't need the details to imagine why his big self had considered fleeing back to Pegasus a couple of weeks ago or why it had taken him and Jack a while to get together once they'd been back home. Little Daniel was wondering if they had taken care of those problems in the meantime, but somehow he didn't think so.

However, it was just a hunch. He couldn't put his finger on it and he wasn't going to ask.

BD stayed the nights. Not every night, but more and more frequently as time went on. At first he'd only stayed on the weekends, now he sometimes stayed from Sunday to Monday and from Thursday to Friday as well – which had brought up the bathroom problems.

There was kissing. And touching. BD's hand resting on the small of Jack's back, Jack's hand clasping BD's shoulder, getting close and snuggly on the couch, brief hugs. Good signs.

BD didn't seem to mind the touching. And he definitely didn't seem to mind the kissing. There were morning kisses and good-bye kisses and just-because-kisses. No 'sucking out your tonsils' kisses – at least not when Daniel had _seen_ them kissing - but affectionate ones, loving ones.

So Daniel assumed things were looking up, but maybe not 'quite there yet'.

Daniel's memories of how it used to be with Jack, of how it used to be to make love, had turned somewhat surreal and pale. Like something you knew how to do in theory, but couldn't really comprehend anymore. But he still remembered one thing clearly – both of them had been pretty vocal during sex.

And while he wasn't sure how he felt about hearing them – other than that it would be pretty awkward, like hearing your parents having sex – he hoped they weren't keeping their hands off each other because of him. That they were going to keep in mind that he was aware what lovers did in the bedroom; that he wouldn't faint over accidentally _hearing_ stuff from across the hall – even though, whenever BD stayed over, Daniel was now pointedly closing his bedroom door at nights to give them all the privacy they might need.

Flyboy came in, glanced at his already empty food bowl to make sure there weren't any leftovers and BD closed the door behind him. Daniel patted the dog with one hand and finished eating his toast.

“I better get going,” BD said, putting his mug into the dish washer.

“When are you scheduled to leave?” Daniel asked. He was curious about the debriefing following SG-1's upcoming mission and had asked to be part of it. They were going to investigate several obelisks found on a planet that used to be inhabited by Ancients.

“15:00,” Jack and BD said as one, then grinned at one another.

“I'll see you for the debrief when you're back. Try to stay alive and unharmed,” Jack said dryly. “Can't see you off. I'm going to be stuck in briefings all morning and someone from the IOA is flying in around noon. I hope it's not Woolsey. That guy bores me to tears.”

“Yeah, but at least you know Woolsey,” BD said. “He's not a very charming guy, but he seems to be on our side, mostly. When he's not fretting about something.”

“When he doesn't have a stick up his ass,” Jack grumbled. “Which seems to be the case most of the time.”

“He's just very correct and formal,” Daniel said, exchanging a grin with BD.

“YOU don't have to deal with his non-existent sense of humor and his habit of quoting regulations and all that crap. He's a... mmmh.” Jack was cut off by BD bending down and kissing him on the mouth.

Daniel smirked and ducked his head, focusing on his coffee.

It had been a little weird in the beginning to see them kiss – and for them to kiss in front of him at all. In a way they were all still too conscious about who Daniel used to be. Who he used to be for Jack. But after the first time Daniel had accidentally walked in on them locking lips one morning, they had had one of those talks Jack called “Twilight Zone moments” and they all had acknowledged that they were okay with it. There was a relationship and Daniel had wanted them to have this relationship.

More than anything else he had been afraid of discovering he might be jealous after all. Once he'd realized there was no green eyed monster rearing its ugly head at the sight of Jack and BD kissing, he had just shrugged it off and moved on.

BD grabbed for the keys of his jeep and looked like he was trying – and failing - to suppress the smile that often blossomed on his face when he and Jack had kissed. It was a warm, happy smile. One Daniel hadn't seen on his big self until they had started practically living together, with little interruptions when BD was off world or went to stay at his own house to keep up the fake front.

Going into work in their respective vehicles and not showing up at the same time was part of the fake front, too. Always had been. It was a pain, but what could they do?

BD came around the table and patted Daniel's shoulder before he left. “I'll get the coffee going.”

Jack rolled his eyes as they heard the front door close with a low bang. “Do I want to know how much coffee you're pouring into yourself when you're working on something with him?”

“Hey! I know my limits,” Daniel huffed with indignation. “And besides,” he grumbled, “he's keeping an eye on it. Which isn't fair since he is always drinking coffee. I'm telling you; as soon as I'm legally an adult again, I'm going to resume all my bad habits and there's nothing you can do about it.”

Jack smirked and put his organizer down. “You made a list? Just in case you've forgotten all your bad habits by the time you're big again?”

Daniel snorted. “It's not like I had that many.”

“Oh, sure you did. Still do.”

“Like WHAT?”

“Like working too long, sleeping too little.”

“Not doing that anymore. Much.”

“Being a slob.”

“Only a genius can master the chaos.”

“Eating junk food when you're working. All that sweet sugary chocolate stuff.”

“You eat junk food when you're watching TV.”

“So do you. What about always trying to have the last word?”

“That's because I'm almost always right.”

“Ha! You're NOT:”

“Am too.”

Jack looked like he was running out of steam and retreated to, “I outrank you!”

“I'm a civilian so you can't out-rank me. And by the way, I out-greek you!”

“Out-geek? Hello? Linguist? That's not a word.”

“Is too!”

“No, it's not.”

“Ja-ack!”

“Da-ni-el.”

They glared at each other across the table and Daniel broke down first, chuckling into his coffee.

Jack grinned. “There's nothing like early morning sparing to keep you on your toes, Wretchie.”

“Don't call me that,” Daniel snapped, the urge to laugh suddenly gone.

“What?”

“That!””

“Wretchie? Hey, you know it's all in loving affection,” Jack teased.

“I hate it. I want you to stop calling me a Wretch.” He put his coffee down and looked at Jack, trying to get across that he had always somehow hated this particular nickname. “I'm probably a lot of things,” Daniel tried to explain with less force, “but a Wretch is a miserable unfortunate and unhappy person. Sometimes a nasty person.” He nibbled on his bottom lip. “I used to be a little bit of all that, but...”

The grin faded from Jack's face and his eyes became soft in the way he sometimes looked at Daniel for no apparent reason. “You're right. You're not the Wretch anymore. You actually stopped being the Wretch a long time ago.”

“I'm glad you noticed that,” Daniel said dryly.

“Yeah, well, it's not like there's a halo suddenly growing outta your head, yet, but there's... improvement,” Jack replied, but his eyes were still soft.

Daniel felt his irritation slip away and had to chuckle again. “I'm not a Wretch, but I'm still a brat and proud of it.”

“No halo?” Jack looked heartbroken.

“No halo.”

“Oh, well.” They smiled at each other again, but then Jack sobered and asked, “You're okay, right? We're not... you don't feel...”

“Singled out? Like a fifth wheel? Neglected?” Daniel asked, arching his eyebrows over the rim of his glasses. “Why? What makes you think I do?”

“Well, there's a lot of stuff going on at the SGC and it's not just the two of us around here anymore.” Jack shrugged, looking a bit uneasy.

“You know I'm okay. We had this talk a couple weeks ago. It's great.” And it was. It was better than Daniel had imagined. It was a little bit like having real parents again, even though they were both guys and BD never tried to actually 'be' Daniel's parent.

“Yeah, but it's a couple weeks later now and I need to know you're happy,” Jack said. “And I need you to let me know if you need to, uh, talk or something. We could take a day, do something cool, just you and me. Like hanging out at a museum, go to the movies, whatever you want.”

“Jack, it's not like he's here 24/7. And even if he was, it'd be okay.”

Jack gave him a long questioning look. “Are you sure?”

“Yes, I'm sure.” Even though it was always nice to do something just with Jack. But they still had their alone time when BD wasn't staying over.

Daniel started to clear the table and put the dishes into the washer. “Stop worrying about me,” he told Jack. “Better get your love life back on track.”

Oops, had he said that out loud?

“Ex-cu-se me?” Jack's eyebrows wandered heavenwards.

“Oh. Err, not that I know anything about your love life. Not much anyway. Well, except for what I remember of... and that's not what I meant to say. It's just the whole Ba'al thing seems to still linger somehow and, uh, I just...”

Jack started humming the Twilight Zone theme.

Daniel closed the dishwasher. “I know it's none of my business...”

“ _There is a fifth dimension beyond that which is known to man. It is a dimension as vast as space and timeless as infinity. It is the middle ground between light and shadow... It's the dimension of.._.”

“Jack!” He couldn't stop himself from laughing again at Jack's grave voice reciting the Twilight Zone intro.

“...little Daniels talking about sex and love lives to a confused, freaked out US Air Force general. It's an area which we call... the Twilight Zone...”

“Okay, okay, I'll stop! I was just going to say that if you and BD need the house to yourselves for a couple of days, I can arrange something. Remember Teal'c mentioned he'd like to go camping? We could take the dog. Maybe we could even take Al along.”

“Al hates camping. He's got this huge issue with spiders,” Jack said in his normal voice.

“He has to face his fears,” Daniel replied smoothly. “Bottom line is, Teal'c has heard about those Anasazi dwellings in Manitou Springs and would like to go and explore them. He's into native Indian tribes ever since we were at the Garden of the Gods. And we talked about it a while back, remember?”

Jack pursed his lips as though he was trying to remember that conversation. “Camping, you say? And taking the dog?”

“Yeah. Maybe we could take night vision goggles from the SGC so that we can do night walks. We want to wait until it's warm enough to go camping and when SG-1 isn't on a mission of course.” Daniel had liked the idea from the get go. He liked spending time with Teal'c who never attempted to mother-hen him, but always made sure he was safe. And the camping trip was something they'd been talking about on and off over the last couple of weeks.

Jack grabbed his organizer and they went into the hallway to put on their shoes and jackets. Flyboy was already sitting by the door, baring his sharp canine fangs at them as he held his leash in his muzzle. Daniel slipped into his denim jacket and shouldered his backpack.

“I'll let you know,” Jack said as they left the house. “When it's time. And... Daniel?”

“Yes, Jack?”

“Thanks.” Jack's hand gently squeezed the nape of his neck.

Then they were in the truck, heading for the mountain and leaving the Twilight Zone moment behind.

  


**II**

Touching wasn't a problem.

Neither was being touched.

Pretty soon after Daniel had spent his first night at Jack's house he had felt confident enough to get rid of unnecessary clothes at night. They had lost the t-shirts, then a while later they had slipped under the covers naked, skin on skin.

But when they were in bed, he was always the one taking the first step. Telling Jack what he wanted and Jack was all there, eager to spread eagle for Daniel, keeping his hands to himself when Daniel wanted to just touch and not be touched. Happy to touch, though, when Daniel wanted to be kissed and held and played with. But Jack always waited for Daniel to tell him it was okay to touch. Always was so considerate and supportive.

Daniel had always liked Jack's hands on his body; big, calloused hands with long clever fingers. He remembered those hands being rough and hard sometimes. And then again so soft and gentle at other times.

These days those hands were always gentle, always tender. They remembered all the places Daniel used to like being stroked and fondled and rubbed. And he still liked it, even though his neither region showed literally no interest in what Jack was doing to him.

And that had to be frustrating for Jack. It was frustrating and annoying for Daniel.

But Jack was always good about it, never complained, never seemed hurt or angry.

Jack was confident.

Daniel suppressed a sigh as he gazed at the body leisurely outstretched on the bed beside him; arms bent, hands comfortably clasped behind the head, legs casually flopped apart, revealing a semi erect penis resting in a nest of graying pubic hair.

His eyes traveled up and down Jack's still form, registering the familiarity of old scars. He could remember most of their origins, had been with Jack on many occasions when he had acquired a new one. Daniel had a couple matching scars ofhis own.

Jack's scars – white lines or dots, some barely visible, some a little more prominent – were like a map Daniel liked to trace with his hands or lips. The ones from his knee surgeries, the half-moon shaped one on his right thigh, a small, jagged cluster of tiny lines on the left side of his abdomen. There was a scar from a Jaffa knife under Jack's right nipple, mostly covered by silver chest hair. He'd gotten lucky that time..

Daniel steered his thoughts away from the history of Jack's scars.

God, he loved looking at Jack. Loved to take it all in. The lean muscular arms and legs, strong chest and his abs, the bit of love handle developing around the middle. Jack was hard and soft in all the right places.

Jack wriggled his hips a little and Daniel caught the cocky grin and the twinkle of brown eyes. “You done counting my scars, yet?”

“I wasn't counting your scars,” he said with a little frown. “I was... admiring them.”

“Mmmmh,” Jack homered, “Scarrrrr....”

Daniel snorted and with one swift move was astride him, diving in for a kiss. Jack's mouth opened readily and Daniel's tongue was invited to play. Jack hummed appreciatively as Daniel's hands went on the familiar journey over his lover's body, a ritual of reconnection. He had done this, too, many times in the last couple of weeks, and was still in wonder about the fact that he COULD do this again. That Jack wasn't a bitter-sweet dream he'd wake up from alone in his bed.

But with the wonder and awe came the ever present realization of Daniel's body not cooperating. He had DREAMED about being able to touch Jack again. To be this close, to have him in bed, straddled and kissable. And here they were, and while Ba'al's face no longer clouded Jack's features when they were doing this, there was still this barrier Daniel couldn't shake, couldn't cross.

Their lips parted with a low plop and Daniel watched Jack's eyes go mellow, his pupils slightly dilating. He lowered his head, trailing light kisses down Jack's throat to his chest. He gently bit a nipple, feeling it harden as his teeth grazed it. Further down he also felt Jack's erection pressing against his own flaccid cock, felt Jack rocking against him. Gentle, not demanding, just a reminder that he was there, getting with the program all right.

“Keep doing that,” Jack whispered, “Oh, yeah... Daniel... don't stop...”

Daniel laved the other nipple with his tongue, the taste of bed warm skin flooding his mind with pleasant memories of waking up together, going to bed together, making love, holding onto each other. Another reconnection.

“Mmmmh,” Jack almost purred as Daniel's lips continued on their way down down down... and when he was face to face with Jack's cock, now filled and more than just semi-erect...

He froze.

_He was kneeling at Ba'al's feet, undressing him, opening his pants, freeing the huge red straining dick, thinking he would be forced to suck it..._

He was in Jack's bedroom.

He was in control.

“Daniel.” Jack's soft voice was drifting down, cutting through the ugliness that was trying to creep into his mind.

Daniel felt a hand in his hair, fingertips lightly massaging his skull.

“I'm fine,” he ground out, licking his lips.

He was in control.

This was Jack.

He hadn't been forced to blow Ba'al after all. But the realization that Ba'al could have forced him and that he would have done it; that there would have been no choice, no turning point, had hit home then. Instead of giving Ba'al a blow job, Daniel had handled the Goa'uld's dick like a pro, had gotten him hard as nails and been ready to be taken by him. Daniel hadn't freaked then. Because there had been no time to freak. And because freaking would have meant failure. He simply couldn't afford to panic or even show disgust back then.

He knew all about why he was freaking now – that damn post traumatic thing. But it wasn't right. He shouldn't. Because Jack wasn't Ba'al. Was nothing LIKE Ba'al, not even close. And there was nothing _dirty_ about what Daniel and Jack were doing. Nothing sluttish. Nothing to be ashamed off. No calculated sex.

It was Jack.

And Daniel was going to...

“Come back up here,” Jack murmured. “C'mon. We're not there yet.”

“I...” Daniel forced his gaze away from Jack's crotch and their eyes met. “I have to...”

“No, you don't. You don't _have to_ anything.”.

Daniel sat back on his heels, disillusion filling him like cold, bitter fluid. “This isn't working.”

“Yet.”

“No. It's going nowhere.”

“Aww, Daniel...”

“Don't! Stop patronizing me.” He slid off the bed, left the room and padded across the hall into the bathroom to take a leak, which seemed to be the only thing his dick was good for nowadays.

When he returned to the bedroom, Jack was sitting up against the headboard. His cock was still at attention, if not as smartly as before.

Daniel should have taken care of that. How was this a relationship if he couldn't even give a proper blow job anymore? He was able to get Jack off with his hand, had done so several times since they were sharing a bed again. When he was touching Jack it never made Ba'al surface. Because Jack's skin, Jack's body, felt, tasted and smelled so very differently from Ba'al's. So, yes, it was good to touch and feel Jack's orgasm ripple through him – even though Daniel's libido wasn't interested - and Daniel had wanted to take it a step further tonight, but apparently that wasn't going to happen.

Because now he was not only unable to get it up. Now he was also freaking at the sight of Jack's dick.

Great development. Not.

“Wanna watch?” Jack asked out of the blue.

Daniel blinked and stopped by the door. “Huh?”

Jack's right hand curled around his cock, gently fisting it. His left was cupping his balls, massaging and squeezing them lightly. “Watch me,” Jack murmured. “You like looking at me... so, look. Take your fill.”

Daniel nodded in silent agreement, leaning against the maple wood bureau where Jack kept his underwear.

Jack kept fondling his sac with one hand and settled into a nice slow rhythm with the other one around his cock. Daniel saw Jack's chest heaving, heard the breath hitching in his throat; there was a deep, low moan that used to send delicious tremors along Daniel's spine, right down into his balls and further down to his toes... electrifying.

Used to.

Yet, Daniel's eyes were fixed on Jack's hands stimulating, sliding, pulling. Even though it was semi dark in the room – a new day was just dawning outside - he noticed a drop of pre-cum glistening at the tip. Jack milked it a little more, then dipped his thumb into the moisture and started rubbing it in. Another soft moan had Daniel focused on Jack's face, the slightly open lips and half closed eyes.

“Daniel,” Jack rasped out and his eyes flew open, searching Daniel's. “Touch yourself,” he ordered.

Daniel blinked. “What?”

“Do it. Now,” Jack growled.

Suddenly caught in some kind of dreamy state, ignited by Jack's dark and husky voice, Daniel's hand grasped for his own cock, giving it a tentative stroke.

He felt Jack's eyes on him.

He mirrored Jack's movement, cupping his own balls which were as lifeless as his cock.

“Lean back and spread your legs,” Jack said. “Show me what you got.”

Daniel felt the hard wood of Jack's underwear chest press into his buttocks as he complied...

And there was that tremor, building up in his belly, sending tendrils of heat through his veins...

Daniel gasped out a shocked breath.

This couldn't be happening...

But it was.

He took himself more firmly in hand and squeezed, then stroked again, as his guts seemed to melt into a puddle of hot liquid. _Keep talking,_ he thought with desperation, _keep talking..._

But Jack was apparently getting too close to stay with the game. “Yeah, like that... keep doing it... oh, god, Daniel, I'm gonna...”

“No.. Nooo...” Daniel whispered, desperation flooding him. “Not yet, not...”

Jack was coming with a low grunt and a hiss, shooting ribbons of semen all over his stomach and chest.

The ball of heat inside Daniel subsided and cooled, leaving him as flaccid and soft as before. Instead there was frustration now. And the cold pang of realization. What just happened...

Jack's head lolled back against the headboard. “Crap,” he groaned. “I'm sorry.”

Daniel stalked around the bed and sat on his side, his back to Jack. “Why are you sorry?” He could hear his voice being clipped and edgy and he hated how harsh he sounded. “You got off. That's good, right? If I can't get you off, at least you can do it yourself.”

“You liked watching me,” Jack said, still a little breathless.

“Yeah,” Daniel huffed out a bitter laugh. “I was even beginning to be interested. Before you came and it died before it even really started.”

“I'm sorry,” Jack repeated sadly. “I should have tried to hold out longer. Maybe...”

Daniel rubbed his temple. “Don't apologize for something that's not your fault,” he snapped.

“Okay,” Jack said. He didn't sound hurt or angry. Just calm and supporting. Which, somehow, was worse. “I was just trying to help.”

 _Oh, god._ “I know!”

“It's gonna be okay, Daniel.”

Daniel turned around to face his lover. Jack was wiping the come off his belly with his bed cover. “You don't know that.”

“Yes. I do.” Jack stopped what he was doing and their eyes met again.

“How? How do you know? You keep saying that, but it's not happening. And DON'T start with 'give it time' again. Because I'm sick and tired of you being so damn...” Daniel bit his lip hard.

“What?”

“Supportive!” he shouted. “Stop doing this walking on egg shell thing around me, okay?!”

“Whoa!” Jack held up his hands in surrender. “I'm not walking on egg shells around you. I'm just trying to give you space. And time.”

“Well, apparently that's not working!”

Jack nodded. “Okay. Soooo...?” He waved at Daniel. “Any ideas? Suggestions?”

“I don't know,” Daniel said bitterly. “Maybe we should just get up early and forget about it.”

“You said you were interested – earlier,” Jack said, sounding carefully optimistic. “If I hadn't come too soon...”

“Forget it,” Daniel interrupted sharply. “It was nothing. Just a flicker of,” he shrugged, “something.”

“So, we'll try that again,” Jack suggested, up beat again. “Maybe tonight. Me jerking off, you watching. See where it takes us.”

Daniel pinched the bridge of his nose. “Whatever. I'm going to get some coffee.”

He couldn't talk about this now because he was too angry to talk about it. Angry at himself, at his failures and – surprisingly – angry at Jack. And he didn't have a single reason to be mad at Jack. Jack was great. All confidence.

He shrugged into t-shirt and boxers, then took a detour to the bathroom to splash cold water into his face, before he walked down the hallway into the dark kitchen. He didn't bother with turning on the light and just switched the espresso machine on, waiting for it to heat up.

He got two mugs out of the upper cupboards and the milk from the fridge. When he pressed the start button on the coffee maker and listened to the coffee grinding, his anger subsided, leaving him tired and empty and confused.

Flyboy traipsed in and straight to the back door so Daniel let him out and carried the coffee to the table. Daniel drank his coffee, sitting in brooding silence only interrupted by the dog coming back in.

Daniel fed him and then went to the bathroom for a shower, musing that today there'd be no traffic since it was still an hour until the kid would crawl out of bed. It was when he soaped himself up that he remembered today was Friday and they had the weekend off.

LD was going on a camping trip to Manitou Springs with Al and Teal'c after work.

Jack had said something about candlelight dinner and a massage.

Daniel sighed and held his face into the spray of hot water.

  


Later, at breakfast, they were discussing the camping trip. Daniel had offered to drive them out to Manitou Springs and Jack would pick them up on Sunday. Teal'c could drive. He had learned it in 1969. Well, when they had been stranded in 1969. The AF had even gotten him a license. But he didn't have a car because he didn't really need one. When he left the mountain it was usually with Jack, Daniel or Sam.

LD was excited. He had packed his bag last night in between phone calls from Al who had all kinds of questions about what to pack and if he needed meds and an extra blanket and so forth.

“I just need to get Flyboy's bowls, the leash and his blanket,” LD announced when he was done eating.

“You packed the sun block?” Jack asked.

LD grinned. “Yes. Have my cap, too. Jack, stop...”

“Mother-henning, yes, I know,” Jack cut him off sharply. “I'm sorry for caring. If you come home sunburned, don't whine at me.”

LD raised his eyebrows. “Hey, I packed the sun block, okay? I'm going to use it, too.”

Jack scowled into his Froot Loops. “Good. Just saying.”

LD slipped from his chair, his good mood not tainted by the grumpy general. “I'll get Flyboy's stuff and put everything into your car, Daniel.”

With that he left the two men to their uncomfortable silence. Finally Daniel said, “There's no need to bitch at him if it's me you want to yell at.”

Jack stopped staring at his Froot Loops and looked at him. “I don't want to yell at you, Daniel,” he said with a little sigh.

“No? Maybe you should. Maybe if we'd start yelling at each other...” He trailed off, shaking his head.

Jack stared. “What?”

“Nothing. I guess I'm just a little tense.”

Jack said, “We're trying. It's all we can do. There's no deadline to this.”

Daniel nodded. “Yes. It needs time. We have to be patient. We're getting there. I know.”

“Yadda?” Jack quirked an eyebrow at him.

“It gets a little bit old after a while. The whole pep talk thing.” Daniel got up and put his dishes into the washer.

“I'm just...”

“Trying to help. Yes. I know that, too.” He slammed the dishwasher shut. He felt ridiculous for wanting to yell; _Try ordering me around like Ba'al did. Treat me like your personal slut and I'm probably going to get it up again just fine_.

He had to get out of here.

Jack said, “I'm not sure what you want from me, Daniel.”

Daniel turned and looked at him. “Actually, I'm not sure about that, either,” he said stiffly.

“O-kay,” Jack drawled after a long moment of silence. “If you figure it out, let me know.”

“Great. I'll see you later,” Daniel said politely and grabbed his car keys. “I'm going to help Daniel get his stuff into my car.”

“Yeah, sure. Later,” his lover replied in the same tone.

Great. Now Daniel had managed to piss him off. And there was actually something stupidly satisfying about that. If he pushed just a bit more...

What the hell did he think he was going to accomplish here?

Daniel stood by the table a moment longer, but when Jack kept shoveling Froot Loops into his mouth, he just left.

LD was by the jeep, putting his bag inside. When Daniel approached him he frowned. “What's going on?”

“Nothing.”

“Right. You barely talked to each other all morning and Jack is cranky.” The frown on LD's face deepened. “Are you okay?”

“We're fine. Just...” He didn't know how to continue. He could tell LD some little white lie about getting up on the wrong foot and the kid would nod and not believe a word. But he wasn't going to spell this out to his little self. Especially since he wasn't entirely sure what all this really was about himself.

Or maybe he was, but he needed some time to wrap his head around this.

The kid slammed the backdoor of the jeep shut and said, with a little knowing grin, “Well, sort it out. You have two days to yourselves to work out the kinks and have some make up sex.”

Daniel stared after him as he ran back into the house.

***

Jack slammed the phone down and took a deep, calming breath.

Of all the stupid, unnecessary...

A knock at his door made him rap out an annoyed, “What?!””

Mini-Daniel breezed in, followed by Teal'c who was carrying a tray. On it was a plate with something that resembled mashed potatoes and green pea-slime, topped by a scrawny chicken joint and gravy. There was a bowl of yellow jell-o on the side.

“Since when do you knock before barging in?” Jack grumbled.

“We met Sam for lunch and she said you're in a bad mood so I thought I'd be considerate.”

“Anything else Carter shared with you?”

“She said she met you at the gym earlier and you were trying to beat the punching bag into a pulp,” Daniel provided.

“I was processing something. Punching bags are great for that as you know,” Jack muttered.

Daniel shrugged. “Don't go out of your way to thank us for bringing you lunch.”

Teal'c put the tray on Jack's desk and Jack gave it a fleeting glance. “Thanks.”

“It is edible,” Teal'c said. “Even if it does not appear to look very pleasant.”

“Teal'c had two helpings,” Daniel shared.

“That good, eh?” Jack picked up a fork and poked Mount Mashed Potato.

“Walter said you haven't left your office all morning except for briefings and your trip to the gym, so we thought we'd bring you lunch for a change,” Daniel said. “And, oh, we're going to leave now. BD is waiting for us in the locker room. We need to pick up Al and then we're gone.”

“Pick up Al? He hasn't changed his mind again?” Al had changed his mind about the camping trip at least four times in the last two weeks. He wanted to go badly, but there were all kind of issues he was anxious about. Spiders, bugs in general, sleeping on the ground, poison ivy, having to share the facilities with all the other campers, eating canned food...

“He didn't. I told him if he changed his mind when we arrive to pick him up he has to stay home. And if he changes his mind while we're there he has to call his mom to be picked up,” Daniel said with a shrug.

Jack chuckled. “Good luck. Don't let him spoil the fun.” He rose from his chair and stretched his back muscles before he stepped around his desk to hug his son. “You have a great weekend, Space Monkey.”

Daniel hugged him back. “I wish Sam could go with us, but she's going to spend the weekend with Pete. They need to choose paint and wallpapers for their new house.”

Jack knew about Carter's weekend plans. She had come to work waving paint sample cards at them all week, asking for their opinions about wall colors. Teal'c had a ball discussing her and Pete's ideas about how to remodel the house they had bought a couple weeks ago. Jack saw many hours of tearing down, rebuilding and painting walls in his and SG-1's near future. The wedding was scheduled for late August and Jack was amazed to see his usually not-girly, level headed former 2IC flipping through bride's wear magazines and squeeing over dresses and veils with Fraiser on her lunch breaks.

Daniel pulled away and grinned. “You have a great weekend, too. Oh, BD wants me to let you know he's going straight home when he dropped us off at the campground.”

Home? Great. And what was Jack supposed to make of that? Was he supposed to go after him or just stay away?

Daniel said, “Aren't you going to tell me not to get lost or to break my neck?”

Jack snorted. “Get out of my hair – and behave.” He exchanged a few words with Teal'c, arranging for a time to pick them up on Sunday. Then they were gone.

At least those two were going to have fun. Jack wasn't so sure about Al. Or himself for that matter.

He sat back at his desk and forked a path through Mount Mashed Potato. He replayed this early morning's events in his mind again and again, wondering what would have happened if he hadn't blown it by coming just the moment when Daniel had felt... something.

And then he was wondering what he'd said or done that suddenly spurted Daniel's slumbering libido back into action in the first place – at least for a little bit? Jack wondered if he'd be able to do that again. Provided Daniel would snap out of being mad and stop sulking long enough to give it another go anytime soon.

 _He's not sulking_ , Jack corrected himself. _He's just trying to work through this. You know what_ _it's_ _like. It's not his fault. And he has every right to be frustrated when he's almost there and then... nada._

Jack had made arrangements for the weekend, but now he wasn't so sure anymore. He had been looking forward to the two days of just him and Big Daniel. And now Daniel had gone to his own place? Just like that?

On their first opportunity to be alone for two long days.

Jack had been confident enough to take the kid's offer of a free weekend, thinking that even if they didn't make enough progress to go all the way, they could still try some stuff; see if there was a way to get Daniel excited. Jack used to be good in the seducing department. He had thought that, with nothing to distract them and no reason to be quiet and discreet, they might both relax enough to spark something there.

Now he wondered if Daniel's real issue was that he didn't want to try experimenting yet. That this whole 'being alone' thing was happening too soon.

And Jack had promised to give him space if he needed it. Not to push. And he hadn't. And if Daniel wanted to go home and spend his weekend reading or working or just being on his own, then Jack had to go with the flow and deal with it.

With a sigh he picked up the phone and canceled the table at their favorite Chinese restaurant he had reserved for tonight.

Walter knocked at his door a while later, sheepishly bringing in more work and apologizing for keeping Jack longer than planned since it was the general's free weekend and all. Jack just shrugged and said, “My plans have changed so I might as well stay and take care of these.”

The phone call came four hours later, at 19:15.

Jack had just put his signature on yet another order form (stocks of printer paper and printer cartridges and a huge amount of paper clips – oh, the suspense was thrilling). He rubbed his tired eyes, checked his watch and was considering asking Walter for coffee and donuts, when his phone rang.

Closing the file folder and throwing it in the general direction of his out-box, Jack picked up the receiver, expecting Woolsey or some other annoying disturbance.

“Hey,” said his caller. “Are you going to be stuck at the mountain for much longer?”

Jack leaned back in his chair and twirled the phone cord around his fingers. “Lots of paperwork.”

There was a pause, then. “Oh. Well, I just wanted to check if something was up and you need me to come back in or something...”

“Nah, nothing more exciting than order forms and reading mission reports.” Jack scowled at the empty room. “Thought you wanted a break.”

There was another pause, then, “I thought we had plans...?”

“Yeah, but Daniel said you were...” Jack sat up straight. “Where are you?”

“I'm...”

“Home,” Jack said flatly, short of banging his head on his desk. Not home as in Daniel's house, but home as in, well, home.

“Ye-ah. I've been home for a while now and you're not. So I thought I'd call and...”

Jack jumped up, kicked back his chair and started throwing his pens into the upper desk drawer, then shut down his laptop with one hand. “I'm on my way. I was going to take you out for dinner... I just got held up. DON'T leave!”

Now Daniel actually sounded mildly amused. “I'm not leaving, Jack. But I'm not really up for going out either. We... we need to talk.”

“Good! See ya in a bit!” Jack hung up and was out his door in a flash, just stopping at Walter's office long enough to inform him that he was leaving now. Not waiting for a reply, Jack gave the man a wave and was on the elevator in record time.

**III**

He picked up a bottle of Chardonnay and some groceries on his way home, determined to wine and dine his lover after all. They could go out tomorrow if they felt like it, but Jack wanted to do this right and not piss Daniel off again, so he was just going to see where tonight was would take them.

Daniel must have seen him coming up the driveway because when Jack was at his front door, juggling the groceries and trying to get the key into the lock, Daniel opened and took the wine bottle Jack held out to him.

“I got stuff for dinner,” Jack announced, breezing in and making a beeline for the kitchen.

He heard Daniel close the door and follow him. “We could have ordered something later.”

“Ah, but I've got steaks and garlic butter and bread and we can make salad.” Jack spread everything out on the counter. He grabbed the box of chocolate mocha ice cream and put it into the freezer. “Dessert, too.”

“Jack...”

“What?”

Jack pulled the frying pan from a cupboard and turned to look at Daniel who was leaning against the counter. He woreblack sweatpants and a white sleeveless t-shirt, revealing well toned muscular arms. It hit Jack once again how much more buff Daniel was now compared to pre-downsizing. Pre-downsizing Daniel had long lost the lanky scholar look and developed a nice, fit build. This guy, however, showed the result of regular work out in the two-or-so years he had been ahead of this time line. There was no overbearing muscle mass, not quite a six pack underneath that shirt. But he was broader and, as familiar as Daniel's body was to him, Jack felt the differences. Daniel was somehow heavier, more compact.

His feet were bare and his hair was still slightly damp from a recent shower.

“We need to talk,” Daniel said. “And I'd like to do that now and have dinner later.” He sounded calm, but there was that line between his eyes creasing his forehead. A sure sign he was mulling over something big and had been doing so for a while now.

Jack put the pan on the stove, but didn't turn it on. “Oh-kay. I just thought it's kinda late so maybe we should eat now and talk... after.”

“I, uh, had a sandwich earlier,” Daniel said, wincing a little. “I didn't know when you were going to be here and I didn't have lunch.”

“Sooo, not hungry then?”

“Not really, no.” He looked a little sheepish. “Sorry. If you're hungry, though, you could eat first, of course.”

Somehow this wasn't going as planned. Not at all. Jack briefly considered starting dinner anyway, but then he just put everything into the fridge.

“Sorry,” Daniel offered. “I should have called earlier.”

“It's okay. I thought you'd gone to your place. That you wanted to...” Jack rolled his shoulders and stuffed his hands into the pockets of his jeans.

Daniel looked puzzled. “We were going to spend the weekend together. If I'd changed my mind I would have told you.”

“You were a little cross with me this morning, so I guess when the kid said you were going home...”

“Oh.” The crease between those blue eyes deepened. “Assumptions?”

Jack cringed. “Ye-ah. My bad.”

He opened one of the upper cupboards and grabbed a can of roasted peanuts. Pulling off the lid he started flipping them into his mouth as a substitute for real food. Jack's lunch tray was still sitting on his desk at the office and he hoped Water saw and disposed of it.

“So, no dinner?” Jack couldn't completely keep the disappointment out of his voice.

He had wanted to make this like a first date. Which was probably sappy and stupid since they had been together – again – for two months now. But Jack had wanted, needed, to do the romantic thing here. Dinner, candlelight, the whole shebang. He had never been big into the whole romance, hearts and flowers department. But he knew how to wine and dine and what Daniel used to like on a perfect night. What they both used to like.

Somehow he'd figured that hadn't changed much.

Maybe it had, though?

Daniel pinched the bridge of his nose and let out a little sigh. When he looked up, however, he was wearing his about-face; apologetic smile and the crease gone from his brow. “Look, I'm sorry I ruined your plans. Our plans.”

“You didn't ruin anything. I got the wrong message there. I could have called to make sure...”

“I'm... I'll go, change into something more suitable while you cook.”

Jack flipped another peanut and munched. “Hey, there's no need to indulge me. You're not up to it, it's okay. We can do this tomorrow. Or later. No pressure.”

Daniel pushed off the counter and left, calling over his shoulder. “Open the wine so it can breathe.”

“Right. I'm on it.” But he didn't move, except for absent-mindedly eating more peanuts.

Jack was trying to go with the flow here, but he felt like he was stabbing in the dark. Where had he gone wrong now? And he still didn't get what had happened this morning – or why it happened.

He'd thought Daniel might want to watch him jerking off. They had played that game before the downsizing and it had always increased the anticipation, had made their mouths water and their hands itch with the need to not just watch, but touch. Jack had thought it might stir something in Daniel to watch... and then he'd gotten carried away...

He had told Daniel to...

Jack opened his mouth, then closed it, and the peanut he'd just been flipping hit his nose with a low 'ping' before it fell to the floor.

Oh, crap.

He put the peanut can on the counter and went after Daniel.

Jack found him in the bedroom where he was just slipping into a light blue button-down shirt. He had changed the sweats for a pair of washed out jeans and Jack noticed how the denim stretched over Daniel's ass and hugged his strong, long legs. Not quite like a second skin, but comfortable, well worn and snug.

“Hey, about this morning...” Jack said, stopping in the doorway. “I didn't mean to treat you like...”

“Like a slut? By ordering me to jerk off for you?” Daniel asked calmly.

 _Crap crap crap_. “Yeah. Apparently my own dick kind of clouded my brain,” Jack tried to joke it off, then shook his head. “For what it's worth, I'm sorry.”

Daniel paused, one arm into the shirt, and turned around to look at Jack. The frown was back. “You know, I wish you'd stop doing that,” he said slowly.

Jack blinked. “What?”

“Being nice.”

 _What?_ “You want me to stop being nice.”

“Yes!” Daniel jerked the shirt off again and it fell to the floor. “I wish you'd stop being so level headed all the time. Stop apologizing. Stop being so freaking polite. Stop backing off. And stop trying to be so... so...” He flailed his hands.

“Supportive?” Because that's what Daniel had said this morning. _I'm sick and tired of you being so damn supportive._

“Yes! It's weird. It's... it's annoying. And it's not like you,” Daniel blurted out.

“I'm trying here, Daniel,” Jack said, flummoxed. Where the hell was this coming from?

“Yes, I know! But you're just... making it worse!”

“What? You'd rather I was a jerk? Because that's what I usually am? Is that it?”

Jack didn't get it. And suddenly he didn't feel level headed at all. He knew what Daniel was going through. Jack had gone through this a long time ago and he knew. So he hadn't pushed, hadn't _felt_ like pushing. He could wait. It wasn't always easy because Daniel was so close and Jack wanted him. Most of all, though, Jack wanted Daniel to finally respond to him again the way he used to. Yes, yes, it was frustrating not being able to arouse your partner. But Jack knew this didn't have anything to do with him. This wasn't about him. And he would try and do what it took to help Daniel heal.

But he hadn't expected this kind of resentment. He was having a hard time dealing with the fact that being supportive was apparently pissing Daniel off.

“I just want you to be _you_. And about for what you told me to do this morning - I don't need an apology!” Daniel snapped.

“What do you mean, you want me to be me! Are you saying I can't be considerate? I'm probably not as empathic as you are, but I can make the effort to try and be sensitive,” Jack snapped back. “How is that making it worse?!”

“It just is!”

“What kind of an answer is that!”

“You're trying too hard!”

“Oh, I'm sorry! Forgive me for being a nice guy!” Or for trying to be one anyway because Jack knew he wasn't always a nice guy per se.

“It's not about being nice. Or about being sensitive. But you're treating me with kid gloves, Jack. Like I'm something fragile that could break. But that's not who I am and you of all people should know that,” Daniel shouted. “I have issues! But I _don't_ need to be mollycoddled. Especially not by you!”

“Is that what you think I'm doing?!” Jack's voice rose in sync with Daniel’s, he couldn't help it.

“YES! And it's driving me nuts, if you want to know the truth!”

“I wanted to cook you dinner, serve you wine and then I wanted to seduce you! I wanted to make this GOOD for us!”

“It's not about this weekend! It's about every time we're in bed together you're going out of your way to...” Daniel trailed off, shaking his head. “Forget it.”

“Oh, no, you don't! You're not chickening out of this now! You wanted to talk, remember? Now you started this, see it through. C'mon, Daniel? I'm going out of my way, to... what? To give you space, make you comfortable? Making sure you have the lead? To NOT gang up on you? Because YES, that's exactly what I'm doing! Because I believe that's what you need. Because I care!”

And Jack didn't mind letting Daniel take the lead. They had always been equals in bed, switching positions, taking and giving. They both liked bottoming and topping. Jack had no problem with giving himself over to Daniel. He liked Daniel doing that for him, yes, but he had given himself, had handed over control, to Daniel just the same, countless of times.

Daniel let out a huff of air. “Maybe what _you_ believe I need, is not what I really need!”

“So what DO you need?” Because Jack was at a loss here and needed it spelled out for him.

“Re-claim me,” Daniel said bitingly, his voice like splintered glass.

Jack stared. Just stared at the man before him. Daniel's skin was flushed, his eyes were challenging and there was a hard glint in them.

He was deadly serious.

He was also the most beautiful man Jack had ever seen; from inside out. And Jack felt jell-o in his knees and light headed. But he shook himself out of his stupor. “Daniel...” he started, but Daniel held up a hand and Jack snapped his mouth shut.

“When you told me to touch myself, when you _ordered_ me to do it, I felt the first spark of something in months.”

Jack felt his eyes widen. He had thought his ordering Daniel to start touching himself had been what killed it, not what had started it.

Daniel said, “I have a theory.”

“A theory? No, don't answer that, of course you have a theory,” Jack groaned.

Daniel glared, Jack grimaced and held up his hands in defeat. _Shutting up now._

“I need to know if I'm right. But most of all I need you to help me get rid of Ba'al's mark. It's still on me. Like an invisible branding. It's not as jarring as in the beginning, but it's still there. And I want you to do something about it. Now.”

Jack willed away the visual of Ba'al's mocking face, the echo of his taunting voice...

_He craved every touch, every kiss. He responded most eagerly._

...as they stared at each other.

“He didn't fuck me, Jack, but he left his fingerprints all over me. And he knew exactly what he was doing. And I let him. I. Let. Him. Do. This. To. Me.” Daniel's voice was still like splintered glass even though he wasn't shouting anymore. His eyes bore into Jack's.

“You had no choice,” Jack said flatly. “We've been through this.”

“And yet, you were mad as hell. And not just at him.”

“Daniel, stop it.” Jack warned. Because, yes, he had been mad. Had killed that bastard in a blink of an eye, had almost sentenced his Daniels to death by doing so. And he had been mad at Daniel for offering himself to Ba'al. For putting himself into the line of fire and risking his neck – but also for allowing Ba'al to touch him in places only Jack should touch. Even knowing Daniel had had no choice, Jack had been mad. He didn't need that green eyed monster to surface again.

“He enslaved me, made me his Lo'taur. And I need you to set me free. And to re-own me.”

“I don't own you,” Jack said, a cold trickle of fear surging through him, paired with a terrible suspicion... because that's exactly what he'd been thinking when he'd killed Ba'al; that Daniel was his, and his alone... oh, god...

“Oh, but you do.” Daniel took a step towards him and Jack wanted to step back, but was somehow rooted to the spot, his eyes fixed on Daniel. On Daniel's eyes that had never seemed this bright, this sparkling, this deep. “You do, and you know it, Jack.”

“Daniel,” Jack whispered. “Look, you've been through a horrible...”

And then Daniel was there, in Jack's personal space with those blue laser eyes and his tongue licking slightly parted lips. “Let's get this out of our systems, Jack. Once and for all.”

“It's not going to work like this.” He shook his head. “I'm going to hurt you. And that's not gonna happen.”

“You're never going to hurt me,” Daniel said, voice soft and husky now. Making Jack's jell-o knees wobble and his heart race.

“You'll freak and it'll be my fault.”

“Not freaking.”

“Daniel...”

“Jack, don't! Just... trust me?”

Jack saw the determination in Daniel's eyes, the way his jaw was set. He also saw something he hadn't seen in a long time. Arousal. Want.

“Trust me,” Daniel repeated. “This is how it has to be. No celestial choirs, no flowers, no sweet talk.”

“I do trust you, you know that,” Jack said gruffly.

It just seemed like the wrong thing to do.

Sara had eased Jack back into having sex again after Iraq by being patient. By not cornering him. He couldn't stand being cornered. But he'd found he could still enjoy being with her, feeling her soft pliant body against his. He had sought refuge in sleeping with her snuggled against him and it had only been a matter of weeks before he'd wanted her again. Maybe because she wasn't a guy. He had never thought about being with a guy again after Iraq; never felt the wistful yearning for a man to bury himself in.

In a way Iraq had solved a problem for him. Best conversion therapy ever.

Until Pierson had come along and rekindled that particular need.

It had taken Jack that long to get over Iraq. Or at least get over it enough to let another guy touch him again. To want and enjoy being touched by another guy again.

He had expected that Daniel needed the same space and time. Had assumed Daniel needed the knowledge he was the one calling the shots, taking point – whenever he was ready. And that his body was going to wake up from its state of being non-responsive when enough time had passed.

What Jack hadn't expected was this fierce and demanding need to be claimed. Oh, he knew instantly what exactly it was Daniel wanted from him. They had done this before, too. But it had never been anything more than rough play. Big words, hard and fast actions... but a game nevertheless.

Now Jack was bordering on freaking. Because this wasn't a game. And it couldn't possibly be right that way. And then there was the fact that...

_Re-claim me..._

...Jack was hard as nails and felt the blood rushing in his ears.

Oh. God.

“You keep saying it's my call. My lead. I choose this. I need you to follow through,” Daniel said.

Jack raised a hand and cupped Daniel's face. “I love you,” he whispered, brokenly.

“And that's going to make all the difference in the world,” Daniel replied, voice low pitched and tender. But still fierce. Still not allowing any argument.

So stubborn. So beautiful.

Jack let his thumb slide down Daniel's forehead, easing away the crease between his eyes. Then he brushed it over the curve of Daniel's nose and his lips. There he paused and the tip of Daniel's tongue flicked out, moistening Jack's fingertip. Jack trailed it further down over Daniel's strong jaw and his throat, resting it on his pulse point, feeling the quickening beat.

“Your call, your choice,” Jack said hoarsely.

“Waiting here,” Daniel growled.

And with one fast movement he captured Daniel's mouth in a kiss, plunging in as soon as Daniel's lips gave way. There was nothing gentle about it, nothing tender. It was searing and harsh. Daniel opened his mouth wide, letting out a strangled little sound. But when Jack tried to pull back, in some last attempt to gentle it, Daniel's hand clamped around the back of his head, gripping tufts of hair, and their mouths fused even more. Jack bit Daniel's lower lip and Daniel moaned.

They parted for air, then kissed again until their lips were swollen and moist. Jack looked deep into Daniel's eyes, searching for approval or refusal, trying to gauge his lover's feelings...

“Yes,” Daniel encouraged. “Oh, yes!”

Jack's hand shot out, fingers clasping tightly around Daniel's chin, tilting his head up. Jack's thumb rested lightly just underneath the pulse point. Ba'al's nasty hickey was long gone, Daniel's neck nothing but smooth skin. But it had been there and the ugliness of it had burnt itself into Jack's retina.

But he was about to change that.

“Got any turtlenecks?” he asked and Daniel chuckled darkly and nodded slightly.

Oh, god, he wished he was a better man than this, but he wasn't...

And so he replaced his thumb with his mouth. Daniel arched and stiffened, but didn't pull away. One of Jack's hands moved to Daniel's neck, the other one came to rest on the denim clad ass to keep him in place and when he stopped biting and started suckling and licking more gently, Daniel pushed against him and his hands mirrored Jack's, holding on and clutching, bringing their groins together.

And hel-lo... there was definitely a bulge and it wasn't just Jack's.

He released the patch of skin and looked at the dark red mark. His mark. Then he drowned in Daniel's eyes again.

“Whatever you intend to do, you better get on with it,” Daniel hissed.

Jack saw the dark pupils dilate and it was like a thousand volts slamming into his guts, because he remembered this look. Remembered it and had missed it, craved it...

He inhaled a lungful of air and traced the fresh hickey with a single finger, his other hand still on Daniel's ass, squeezing possessively. “If anyone else is ever going to touch you like this again, you better tell them to be very afraid, Daniel.”

“I don't plan on that happening again,” Daniel murmured.

“No, you don't.” Jack took his mouth once more, fast and furious.

“Because you don't share,” Daniel panted when they broke apart.

“I don't share,” Jack confirmed with a growl, licking Daniel's taste from his lips. Coffee and mints. Delicious. With one last firm squeeze – a promise to get back to that particular body part later - he let go of Daniel's butt and took a step back.

“Strip,” he ordered in a low voice and caught a fleeting grin on his lover's lips before Daniel's hands started working on the buttons of his jeans.

Daniel was playing him. And Jack realized with a sudden clarity that it had always been that way. Jack liked to think he was in charge sometimes, but it had always been Daniel calling the shots, getting Jack where he'd wanted him to be no matter if he'd been bottoming or topping.

And Jack couldn't care less because he was exactly where he wanted to be. They had always been perfectly in sync, their respective needs always matching. Two sides of a coin.

His eyes followed Daniel's every move, watched as button after button was opened expertly and without hesitation. He was drinking in the sight of Daniel shimmying the denim over his narrow hips and down down down those long legs until they were pooled around his bare feet.

Daniel stepped out of his jeans and kicked them under the bed. There was no underwear to deal with and Jack felt his own erection pulse in sync with Daniel's, even though Daniel's smooth, long shaft was only half hard.

Yet.

But, dammit, this was one hell of an improvement.

He wanted Daniel on the bed, sprawled and ready, wanted to repeat his order from last night for Daniel to touch himself, but wanted to touch him, too. Jack needed to get his hands on that smooth skin, to feel every rippling muscle, every joint and tendon. Every crease, nook and cranny... Jack wanted to take him right here and now. Wanted him in any possible way he could get him...

“Ba'al had his hands everywhere,” Daniel said, giving Jack a challenging glare. “I can tell you exactly where he touched me. It still makes my skin crawl.”

“Daniel...” Jack did NOT want to hear this.

“...because I can still feel him digging his sleazy fingers into me.”

The words were cutting into Jack like cracks of a whip.

“Shut UP!” He jerked his shirt over his head, letting it join Daniel's clothes on the floor. His jeans and boxers dropped and were kicked away in the general direction of the bed, too.

“He had me sprawled on his bed, was feeling me up, playing with me.” Daniel's voice was cold as ice, yet hot as fire, and Jack could hear the words underneath what Daniel said, loud and clear; _Get him off me. Come over here and stake your claim. Drown him out._

“Bastard,” Jack ground out, not sure if it was meant for Ba'al or Daniel. He moved fast and Daniel was all ready for him as they slammed into each other, blocking the movement just enough to prevent them from crashing on the floor.

They staggered backwards; Jack pushing, Daniel grabbing Jack's biceps, until they reached the bed and dropped heavily onto it. Jack straddled Daniel; groin to groin and chest to heaving chest. Daniel's fingers were gripping Jack's upper arms painfully and there was a triumphant gleam in his eyes.

“This how you want it?” Jack asked fiercely.

“Not making it that easy for you, though. I have a lot of anger to work through,” Daniel growled.

“Thought you wanted me to re-claim you.”

Jack's dog tags jingled, a faint metallic sound, as Daniel heaved himself off the mattress, pushing at Jack and using the movement to roll them over. “Didn't say I’d just spread my legs like a good sub, though.”

***

Jack laughed breathlessly. “Oh, we'll see about that. You know what they say, Daniel?”

“What's that, Flyboy?” Daniel nuzzled the side of Jack's neck for a moment, then moved to his left shoulder, sinking his teeth into Jack's skin. He sucked at the bite, returning the favor of a hickey.

“If you can't stand the heat, don't play with fire... fuck, Daniel... oh, damn...”

“You were saying?” He kissed the developing bruise and Jack let out something between a growl and a yelp.

Daniel ground down on Jack, mashing their cocks together, the slow deep fire burning in his guts and balls making him dizzy.

Jack's hands were on his ass again; spreading his buttocks and stroking one of those long, slightly crooked thumbs lightly down his prenium, making Daniel buck and moan.

“Lube,” he gasped. “Somewhere... pillow...” He had gotten a new tube of Astroglide on his way back from Manitou Springs, determined to use it.

It had been so long since he'd felt anything like this. He'd never thought of himself as someone who was thinking with his dick. But being reduced to just _this_ – the want, the desire, the fire – had been part of who he used to be. Before the downsizing. Before everything had fallen apart. And it had still been part of Daniel before Ba'al had taken it away from him just when he had thought he could – maybe, just maybe - have Jack again. And Daniel needed this part of himself back, even if it meant facing a few truths he hadn't realized before.

“Condoms?” Jack rasped out.

“No need.” Janet had given him a clean bill of health. Daniel had let her do all the usual tests despite the fact that he and Ba'al had only swapped spit. He had wanted to be on the safe side. But Ba'al had been a Goa'uld. They were disgusting, obnoxious, bastards. But there was one thing for sure – they were all fit and healthy. The symbiotes took care of that. And he'd never gone bareback with Fergus in the first place.

Jack pushed a knee up between Daniel's legs and somehow rolled them over again. Daniel let go of Jack's shoulders and grabbed his skull, pulling his face down to suck on his lip. He wanted to be re-claimed, oh yes, but he also had to re-claim in turn.

Jack groaned into his mouth, deep and guttural, and Daniel loved the heaviness of Jack's weight on him, loved their relentless battle of tongues as they were mouthing and sucking and biting. Then Jack's mouth was gone and Daniel licked his lips, feeling a pang of loss that was instantly replaced by a jolt of desire when Jack began nibbling and kissing his throat again. Then he moved further down, manipulating Daniel's nipples one by one.

His hands found Jack's hair and started playing with it, until Jack growled, “Hands off. My turn.”

Daniel tugged at the short silver strands, mocking playfully, “Is that an order?”

“Grab the headboard.”

“Or else?”

“Gonna tie you to it,” Jack said, voice carrying a warning.

Daniel swallowed, his hands stilling. For the first time since he'd started this he felt a flicker of uncertainty about what was going to happen next. How hard was he prepared to push and drive Jack over the edge to get what he wanted. And was he ready to submit to Jack to the point of being tied up if he chose not to play along now?

A sliver of black ice settled over him, threatening to take away the heat and the arousal. What the hell was he doing here? What was he trying to prove? His lover raised his head and, for a split second, Daniel expected Ba'al's burning gaze to penetrate him...

Jack.

Jack doing exactly what Daniel wanted him to do.

Closing his eyes, he focused on Jack's voice; a deep familiar murmur. “If this is what you want, you have to trust me, too, Daniel.”

Daniel reached back and grabbed the headboard, curling his fingers around the wooden bars.

He could feel Jack moving back up his body, still covering him, weighing him down.

Heavy.

Warm.

Melting the ice.

Daniel kept his eyes closed, trying to go with the program. Trying to figure out how the mood had changed so suddenly and what exactly was happening here.

“Look at me.” Jack's voice again, low and calm, but commanding.

Daniel slowly opened his eyes and was caught by the undulated, predatory, lust in Jack's. But there was something else. Devotion and love.

“This,” Jack whispered fiercely, brushing his lips tenderly against Daniel's, “is mine.”

He opened his mouth and Jack kissed him again, long and intense, then pulled back. “I want you to look,” Jack repeated. “I want you to watch me taking you back.”

“Oh, god...” Daniel moaned.

“Shh...” Jack placed a featherlight finger on his mouth and Daniel nodded once.

Giving permission.

Jack smiled and, like he had done earlier, brushed his thumb across the hickey on Daniel's throat. “Mine,” he said softly. “No one else's.”

Daniel watched, felt and listened with all his newly stimulated senses as Jack took his time mapping him with mouth, teeth and hands; whispering his declaration of ownership to every spot he touched until he was kneeling between Daniel's legs. Holding onto his hips, Jack lowered his face to Daniel's groin, nibbling at the soft flesh of his inner thighs, nudging his balls with his nose and then... then he was kissing Daniel's straining erection.

“All for me, and only for me,” Jack hummed, licking a wet stripe along Daniel's shaft. Then his mouth was around it, sliding over it, pulling back, swirling his tongue around the tip and sucking it in again.

Daniel was gripping the headboard too tight, but he only registered it in the back of his mind. His toes were curling and his balls tightening. “Stop,” he panted. “J...ack, you have t... ohmyfucking...”

Jack released him, only to raise his head and give him that predatory look again. “Come for me, Daniel,” he almost purred. And then he was engulfing him once more, giving him one hard, demanding suck.

And Daniel's fingers jerked at the headboard, anchoring himself to it as the light behind his eyes flared up in one long, hot, bright explosion and he was shouting and cursing and bucking while Jack held on for dear life and...

***

...Jack was swallowing, riding out Daniel's orgasm. A wild victorious yell wanted to escape him if it wasn't for the mouthful of cock he was still milking for the last drop of the salty, yet somehow sweet, juice Daniel pumped into him.

 _Got my protein dose for the day_ , he thought. Been a long time since he'd had that, too.

Jack pulled away and, a moment later, was plastered against Daniel's body again and they kissed, Daniel getting a taste of himself in Jack's mouth. Jack's hands slid up to Daniel's wrists and gently tugged until Daniel released his hold of the headboard.

Daniel wrapped trembling arms around Jack and looked at him, slightly dazed. “That happened...” Then a broad, smug grin spread across his flushed face. “It's back in working order.”

“Mmmmh, not done yet, though,” Jack promised with a filthy little grin.

“No,” Daniel replied, smirking. “Not by a long shot.”

Jack freed himself from Daniel's embrace, sat up and looked at his lover splayed on the bed, bliss written all over his face. Daniel's body was mellow and relaxed, his softened dick resting on his muscular thigh, glistening with leftover drops of semen and saliva.

Jack stroked a hand down to Daniel's cock, gently grazing his fingernails over the hot skin, causing Daniel to open his legs even wider. Daniel's body hair had all grown back and as Jack touched the dark pubic hair, he whispered. “You gonna let me shave you?”

Jack used to like doing that from time to time. But Ba'al had forced Daniel to shave and Jack wasn't sure...

“Yes, I'm going to indulge you in your razor kink,” Daniel replied with a wicked little grin. “Not now, though. But we'll get back to that another time. Can't let you have it all at once or you'll grow tired of me too soon.”

“Never gonna happen.” Jack clambered back between Daniel's thighs and licked him clean of every drop he'd missed earlier as he listened to the appreciative sighs and moans, noticing with glee that Daniel was getting semi-hard again under Jack's lavishing tongue.

He could go on like this forever, keeping Daniel happily aroused...

Only he had a very pressing hard on, too, and it was getting a bit painful there. And the need to bury himself balls deep into Daniel was overwhelming, urging him to rush, to be fast and hard and giving in to hat insane need without further ado.

So long.

They had waited so long for this.

Yet, if he rushed it, if he was too fast, he'd ruin it all by coming even before he was where he wanted to be.

“Watching you,” Daniel leered. “Anytime now would be good.”

“Patience,” Jack growled, squeezing one buttock affectionately.

Daniel's sated gaze, his kiss-swollen lips and the nicely developing hickey were enough to make Jack's cock twitch in anticipation.

He started digging for the Astroglide between the sheets and, once he'd found it, resumed his position. He quickly twisted the cap off and squirted some lube on his palms. As he was warming it up in his hands his eyes never left Daniel's, who was staring back at him hungrily.

“I need...” Jack started and then caught the pillow that was thrown his way with one lubed up hand, smearing the gel all over the cotton fabric. Daniel raised his hips and Jack pushed the pillow under him.

He suppressed the urge to hurry, trying to ignore the pressure in his balls and how his dick stood red and hard, ready to burst. But he realized fast that ignoring wasn't gonna do the trick. With a grunt of frustration he took himself in hand and gently squeezed where the glans met the shaft, feeling the need to come to subside enough to go on a while longer.

“You need help with that?” Daniel's voice floated over to him from the other end of the bed, mocking gently. “I'm getting kinda bored here.”

“You don't look bored to me,” Jack said dryly and put his attention – and his hands – back to Daniel's alluring ass. Oh, he'd always had a thing for that particular body part of his archeologist. Had spent a lot of time watching it when Daniel was kneeling in the dirt on some back water planet with no edgy natives or other unpleasant surprises to distract him from the view. Had spent a lot of time playing and exploring it at home.

He spread Daniel's buttocks and stroked his thumb down the crack, then carefully slipped a finger in, just so, probing teasingly.

Daniel clenched and Jack's head snapped up to make eye contact. He saw a flicker of something dark crossing Daniel's features and his first impulse was to stop. But when Daniel's eyes closed, Jack eased the finger back in, slowly and steadily.

“Daniel,” he ordered quietly, going very still. “I want to see those baby blues, c'mon.”

Daniel's breath hitched, but he opened his eyes, searching for Jack's.

“This is me,” Jack said. “It's only going to be me from now on. My fingers. Opening you up, nice and wide, just for me.” He could see Daniel's throat working and he used another finger to brush over Daniel's prenium, up to his balls. “Relax. It's me. Just me. Me and you,” he crooned.

When Jack felt Daniel's muscles loosening, he continued stroking and twisting. He added another finger. So tight. So hot. He found and touched the happy button and Daniel jerked and whimpered and started clamping down on Jack's fingers, demanding now.

“Yeah,” Jack whispered. “That's it. That's it.”

“Jack,” Daniel gasped, “Not... not... like this.”

“No,” he agreed, “Not like this. But you're not there yet... open up for me, just a little more.”

“SO there,” Daniel groaned, impatience and lust lacing his raspy voice. “Get the hell in!”

And Jack needed to. Needed it so badly, it hurt.

Pulling his fingers out he slapped the small side of his lover's ass with enough force to leave a nice red hand print. “Legs, Daniel.”

“Hey! Sonovabitch,” Daniel yelled, startled, but pulled his knees up.

“You wanted me to stop being nice, remember?” Jack lubed up his dick and positioned himself. Holding Daniel open with both thumbs, he pushed forward, breaching him, then stilled and waited and waited and waited... and Daniel mumbled something incoherently and pulled at the bedsheets and the crease between his eyes was back, deepening, as Daniel concentrated and then let out a woosh of air as the tight ring of muscles gave way and Jack slid in.

All the way in.

He hissed and bent forward, changing the angle a bit...

And came to a total halt, simply overwhelmed by the sensation of feeling Daniel all around him, enclosing him, trembling and...

“Jack,” Daniel panted. “Fuck...”

“Not yet,” Jack groaned. “Jesus... you're so tight... I'm gonna...”

“Don't you DARE!” Daniel hollered, wriggling his ass.

“Trying! Don't you fucking MOVE!” Jack yelled. Because if Daniel didn't slow down, Jack was going to come right here and now.

“You... you want to... to talk or something?” Daniel wheezed. “Take the edge off?”

Jack closed his eyes. Sweat was pooling on his temple and trickling down. “Talk,” he repeated. “About? Printer cartridge order forms?”

The tremors of Daniel's chuckles put Jack through more agonizing pleasure. “A general's job's p... pretty exciting, huh?”

“Suspense's overwhelming.”

Daniel laughed again and Jack grabbed him by the dick and squeezed. “STOP! You're killing me here!”

“OW!” Daniel bucked and Jack gritted his teeth. _That_ hadn't been a wise choice and this was going to be over way too soon.

“Jack, I really need you to move now and I really really need to...” Daniel panted

“Okay... oh oh... ka-y.” Jack took a deep breath, carefully pulling out a bit and thrusting back in. He hissed when Daniel clamped around him, sending vibrations all through his cock and balls. Jack pulled out once more and then slammed home and Daniel yelled and Jack did it again. He was hovering over Daniel now, hands clutching the bed sheets. Daniel wrapped his legs tightly around Jack's back as he growled and writhed, answering each powerful thrust of Jack's hips with equal strength.

It was feral and out-of-this-world.

“Mine,” Jack yelled at the top of his lungs, driven out of his mind with rage and lust and the need to possess...

***

  


….to be filled like this again, after all this time, was the biggest rush to the head Daniel could imagine. Like an empty space inside him that was finally taken again. Jack was everywhere; in his body, his mind, his heart.

Daniel let the waves of Jack's moves wash through his body, allowing himself to be ridden hard and fast, to be owned in a way he'd only ever been owned by this man. And he pushed back against Jack, willing him to deepen that connection even more, wanting every inch of him even though he knew he already _had_ every inch of Jack buried inside him.

“Mine!” It was a vow, a promise.

“Yours,” Daniel moaned in return.

“Yours,” Jack panted and they moved together, in perfect sync.

He was Jack's and Jack was his and together they were a reckoning force.

He gripped onto the headboard for support as Jack rammed in again, hitting home, making Daniel yell out. It was pure pain and heat and skin slapping on skin. It was bliss and mind blowing and too much of everything...

He had lost the memories of what it had been like to almost ascend when Oma had wanted to take him after Reese's attack. But right here and now he felt like he was going to soar and fly and become glowy. He was spiraling away, falling apart into a thousand pieces as his orgasm exploded out of him, splattering himself and Jack with hot sticky semen.

He felt Jack emptying himself inside him with a sob and a wretched, “Loveyouloveyou, oh, god, Daniel...”

And when Jack collapsed on top of him, Daniel was recreated, put back together, anchored. He hugged Jack's trembling body tightly and felt the staccato of their joined heartbeats.

He was home.

**IV**

“Oh, crap, look at that,” Jack groaned, trailing a thumb over a slightly purplish bruise on Daniel's hip. Fingerprints.

“Utterly and well fucked,” Daniel confirmed with a filthy chuckle, tracing a bruise on Jack's left upper arm, then bending over him to kiss the one just under Jack's collarbone. A matching hickey to his own, just in a less visible area. Jack couldn't show up wearing a turtleneck on base. Daniel could get away with wearing one under his BDU shirt, probably. Or he could wear a scarf, saying he had a sore throat. Which, all things considered, wasn't even a lie.

They kissed, tender and lazy. They were spent, achy and sore in the most interesting places. After last night's work out they had slept, then made love leisurely and slowly, all need for any aggressive wham-bang gone. Daniel had staked his own claim with much less hurry, but equal force. They had showered afterward, cursing and laughing about the stupidly small stall. They had had their steaks and salad for breakfast, both hungry as though they had been starving for days. Then they had had coffee in bed and now they were still in bed, albeit with new sheets.

“Sooo,” Jack drawled, trailing a finger down Daniel's body to his navel and back up. “About that theory...”

Daniel shoved his leg under Jack's, linking their ankles together. “What theory?”

“The theory you said you have. The one you wanted to prove right.”

“Oh.” He gazed at the ceiling. “I was right. I proved it.”

“Well... enlighten me?”

He wanted to shrug it off. After all, it had worked. Daniel had proved several times over the last hours that his libido problems lay in the past. He didn't have to elaborate on this any further. But he felt Jack's eyes on him and now Jack's finger was scuttling up and down his ribs and Daniel batted his hand away with a huff of semi annoyed laughter.

He was ticklish. Always had been.

“Theory?” Jack's fingers were back, poking the soft part of Daniel's belly.

He sighed. “Will you stop it if I tell you?” He was comfortably exhausted and lazy. He wanted to stay that way.

“Mmmh.” Jack neither confirmed nor denied the request. He nuzzled Daniel's neck and gently nibbled his earlobe.

Daniel shivered languorously. He could probably, most likely, distract Jack enough to steer the conversation away from this, but he decided not to. “I learned something about myself last night,” he began.

“What's that?” Jack stopped nibbling and rested his head on Daniel's shoulder instead.

“I like bottoming.”

“And? So? I like it, too. Top, bottom, anyway I can have you.” Jack grinned.

“I'm okay with topping,” Daniel said. “But I like bottoming more. And I'm pretty sure that if you're brutally honest with yourself, you like topping more.”

Jack shrugged. “Just means we're a perfect match.”

Daniel had to smile at that because it was a simple, yet poignant, truth.

After a moment of silence, Jack suddenly raised his head and propped himself on one shoulder. His hair was bed messy and Daniel thought he looked totally edible with the puzzled 'I'm trying to figure this out' look on his face, the crinkled eyebrows, slightly narrowed eyes and pursed lips.

“Daniel? What are you saying?”

“I like being taken. I like how it feels when you're inside me. It... completes me in a way nothing else can. And I like doing it the way we did last night. Rough. Harsh.” Daniel bit his lip, the memory alone giving him spikes of pleasure. “I... I like slow and gentle, too. But sometimes I need this. Always have.”

They had played it rough before the downsizing, too. Especially when they had to work through some nasty things in their lives. Missions gone wrong, arguments left unsolved, anger simmering under the surface, sometimes grief and guilt. They had never talked about why they did this; it had just happened and they'd given in to it when the need was there.

Like they had last night.

“It's just alpha male crap,” Jack said. “Just... show and play.” He shrugged again, but there was something in his eyes, something that made Daniel think Jack was playing it down.

Because last night it had been more than just play. Last night it had been about re-connecting and belonging and trust. About anchoring that foundation again. For Daniel it had been all about that.

“Friday morning when you told me to watch and to touch myself, I had some kind of... epiphany. Because you telling me to touch myself went straight to my dick. Whereas nothing else seemed to be able to wake it up before. And I LOVED everything we did before.”

“Kinky,” Jack smirked, but his eyes were dark and intense.

“I guess there's a part in me that likes kinky. And there's a part in me wanting to be owned.” Daniel took a deep breath because this was the crucial point. “Ba'al sensed that part in me.”

“Daniel, don't...”

“He singled me out the moment he laid eyes on me. He could have taken you. Or Sam. Because he went both ways, men and woman. But he sensed something in me and latched onto it. He somehow knew. Maybe because he was drawn in by everything that spiked his power, fueled his need to be a master.”

“Okay, hold it, right there. If you're trying to convince yourself you LIKED or DESERVED what he did to you just because you like playing rough and bottoming...” Jack started, his voice rising with anger.

“No,” Daniel cut him off. “No, I did not like what he did to me. But it made me think I was...” Jack's hand was resting on his stomach and Daniel grabbed it and squeezed it. Jack turned their hands upside down, lacing their fingers.

“Weak? Dirty? What, Daniel?”

“It made me wonder if what Ba'al sensed in me was... yeah, weakness.” Daniel felt the bitter taste of the word in his mouth. He shook his head.

Jack snorted.

Daniel frowned. “I know I'm not a weak person. I think for a geek I'm holding up pretty well out there. But this... thing... he might have sensed in me. It might be more subtle. Like a craving, a wish to belong, to have someone in my life I can commit to. Whatever, I thought it was weakness. But last night, when we did it exactly the way I wanted it. When you... claimed me. I didn't feel weak. I felt...”

“Strong? In charge? Like you had me by my balls, taking me anywhere you wanted me.”

Daniel blinked. “How do you...”

“Power, Danny. All the power's with you.” Jack laughed, a deep dark chuckle. “Weak? You're not weak. You're like a tornado when you put your mind to it.” Jack sobered and looked at him, a strange mixture of realization and wonder in his brown eyes. “God, Daniel, you have no idea, do you?”

Daniel gave Jack a lopsided grin. “All I know is that I haven't felt this good in... months. And that it didn't make me feel like a worthless whore when I did it with you. Not the way it made me feel when Ba'al played master and slave with me. Before the,” he made a shrinking gesture with his free hand, “downsizing I used to love bottoming, too. But it never occurred to me I'd get off on your alpha male attitude so much that it would wake up my non-existent libido. When that happened I kind of... freaked.”

“Thinking that underneath it all you're a needy slut wanting to be enslaved and walked around by a leash and collar?” Jack's words were teasing, but he had nailed it on the head. Because that's what Daniel had been wondering when the first shock of his dick springing back to life so unexpectedly by being told to touch himself had passed.

Now, however...

“It's the way you _talk_ when you go all alpha on me. There's something about it that makes me want to hit you and comply at the same time. And the fighting,” Daniel said slowly. “The fighting is a turn on. Always has been when we used to do it like this. The... the knowledge we can push and wrestle without being afraid we might hurt the other one. This... letting off steam, working the kinks out. That, and knowing I can give in to you on my own terms. And that you do the same when you need it.” He shrugged a little self consciously. “I'm not sure what that says about me. Probably just that I'm pretty screwed up. Nothing new there either.”

“It means we're a perfect match,” Jack repeated, settling his head back on Daniel's shoulder.

“Yeah,” Daniel said. “We are.”

They gazed at the ceiling, just mellowing in the presence of each other. But after a while, Jack said out of the blue, “What Ba'al most likely sensed in you was a challenge. He wanted to have you so he could break you. And swallowed a lot more than he could chew when he tried. Choked on it and got what was coming to him.”

Daniel thought about this for a moment, coming to the conclusion he could live with Jack's view on it just fine.

They fell silent again, but Daniel could hear the wheels turning in Jack's head so loudly, it made him laugh. “What are you mulling over?”

“Nothing,” Jack muttered.

“Come on, spill. It's post post coital talk time,” Daniel teased and shrugged the shoulder Jack's head was resting on. “Jack?”

“Daniel?”

“What is it?”

“What?”

“Spit it out before you choke on it?”

Jack sighed. “All right. When you were with Highl... Fergus... I can't believe I'm asking this,” he huffed. “And I'm not. Forget it. I don't wanna know. He can't compete with me anyway.”

Daniel smirked. “Fergus? What about Fergus?”

“Da-ni-el,” Jack growled, squinting up at him dangerously. Then he grimaced and relaxed again. “Never got what you saw in him anyway. Bald head, that mustache. Granted, he had a great build, but there was that weird accent and his taste in beer.”

“Maybe he was a sex god,” Daniel said sweetly.

“Nah, he wasn't.”

“And you would know that – how?”

“Just do.”

Daniel turned over to face Jack. “He liked bottoming, too. And he wasn't into switching.”

“Oh,” Jack said. “So, he never...”

“Wasn't into it, nope. I'm easy, so that was okay.”

“His loss.” Jack sounded way too smug there.

“He was a very tender lover, though. Very creative, too,” Daniel said. Because it was true. And because he liked the spark of jealousy in Jack's eyes.

“Yeah? Did he call you m _o ghrá?_ A chuisle mo chroí? All that sappy, smarmy stuff?” Jack asked, fluttering his eyelashes.

Daniel smiled. “'My love' and 'Pulse of my heart?' No.” After a pause he added. “You do know that's Irish, not Scottish, right?”

“Haven't got a clue.” Jack kissed him very softly and for a while they were just doing that until things became more intense and Jack asked very politely if Daniel would like him to go caveman again.

The rest was a lot of grinding, pushing, licking and shoving. And laughter and growling and more of the pushing and shoving and then a bit of biting and nipping and then Daniel lost track of who had wanted to go caveman on whom...

***

“Jack? What are you doing?”

“Mmh?” Jack looked back over his shoulder at a very naked Daniel standing at the bottom of the basement stairs, arms folded over his chest. Now he was crossing the distance, entering the room to stand beside Jack.

“I was getting a bit lonely up there. And we only have a couple of hours left...”

“I was in the bathroom,” Jack started.

“Yes. That was ten minutes or so ago.”

“I was thinking.” Jack, who was just as naked as Daniel, absently scratched at his chest hair.

“What were you thinking of? Doing laundry?” Daniel waved at the washer and dryer.

They were in the laundry room. Jack had come down here to check on something.

“If … and I'm stressing the word _if_ here... we want another bathroom with a bigger shower, this is the place it could go in. It's big enough to keep the washer and dryer in here if we stack them.”

“I agree. Even though it would be more comfortable to have a bathroom joined with the bedroom,” Daniel said thoughtfully.

“No can do. As you know the master bathroom is next to Little D's room across the hallway. Next to our bedroom is my office. There's no water supply in my office. And, I actually need my office nowadays.” Jack had thought about moving their bedroom down here, next to the maybe-soon-to-be bathroom. It was Daniel's and Al's gym now, but they could move that upstairs. Only downside; that room had no windows and Jack felt he was spending enough time in underground facilities and didn't need a windowless bedroom on top of it.

“Get a bigger house?” Daniel asked, grinning.

“Yeah, right. You gonna pay for it since your paycheck is bigger than mine? Besides, I like this house.”

“Could you, hypothetically speaking, get a water supply for your office?” Daniel asked as they both turned and went back upstairs.

“Hypothetically speaking, yes. But it'd mean remodeling and forking out a lot of money. And where am I going to do all that icky paperwork I'm bringing home if I turn my office into a bathroom?”

“In the bathtub?”

“While you're scrubbing my back?” Jack found the idea had merit.

“You've been known to do your paperwork in strange places. Like the commissary and the gym or my office. What's it like to use your own office all day now, anyway?” Daniel asked with a grin.

They entered the kitchen and Jack switched the espresso machine on. “I DID have an office before. I just never liked it. But as you know, the paperwork multiplies like Tribbles now. I need a desk in an office since Walter doesn't think just getting a huge shredder will do.”

Daniel cocked his head and said thoughtfully, “Maybe we can at least install a new shower in your old bathroom. A big huge honkin' shower so to speak. We'd have to get rid of the bathtub then, but it might work.”

“Doesn't solve the morning traffic issue though.”

“I'm sure we can manage the traffic,” Daniel said. “You could extend the bathroom by breaking through to the wall closet that's next to it? The one you never use...”

“Could put a walk-in-shower in there,” Jack said, warming up to the idea.

He handed Daniel a mug of freshly brewed coffee.

“Yeah. I'm going to throw in some money.” Daniel took a sip. “Back to bed?”

Jack groaned. “I can't possibly go again. How about we sit on the couch and have our coffee like civilized people?”

Daniel snorted. “Like civilized _naked_ people.”

“We could dress,” Jack offered, waggling his eyebrows.

Daniel frowned. “Maybeee...”

Smirking at one another they both said, “Naaah.”

They went and sat on the couch, sipping coffee and eating the ice cream Jack had bought on Friday. Jack had his feet propped up on the coffee table and Daniel was sprawled next to him. The container was between them and they dug in with their spoons.

They shared chocolate mocha flavored kisses, the soft, creamy dessert melting around their tongues.

Jack leaned back into the cushions and stretched his back, moaning when several of his body parts complained. God, he was sore. He had traces of Daniel's fingers on his arm, a very tender bite at his collarbone, scratches on his back and his dick felt like it had been milked and mangled from being up Daniel's ass, being sucked and squeezed in every way possible. Several times. For an old goat he was proud to say he could get it up a LOT in 48 hours. There was that twinge in his own ass to prove he'd not only fucked but been fucked soundly.

Beside him, Daniel winced when he shifted for a more comfortable position.

At least Jack wasn't the only one feeling the aftermath of their work out. He glanced at Daniel's throat. “Maybe you should work from home for a couple days.”

“What? You think the turtleneck is going to look hideous on me?” Daniel licked his spoon clean.

“Not sure it's going to cover all that.” Jack wanted to kick himself. He knew better than to be this careless. Daniel had had the brains to choose a spot that was usually covered by clothes.

But Daniel shook his head. “Don't beat yourself up over it. I knew very well what you were doing when you were doing it. I needed you to do it.”

“See? Right there!” Jack pointed his spoon at Daniel. “Me bowing to your every whim. You want me to go cave man on you? I’ll go cave man on you. You want me to feed you ice cream...” Jack scooped some up with his spoon and Daniel licked it off. “I feed you ice cream. You want a bigger shower? I'll give you a bigger shower. Do you want me to go on?” He rolled his eyes in mock despair. “And the brat is just as bad. You know what he once called me? A marshmallow. Putty in your hands, that's me. And, by the way, if you want me to get a collar and a leash...”

Daniel nodded sagely. “You poor man. I feel for you. And thank you, but I think we’ll leave the collar and the leash to the dog.”

Jack sighed. “Seriously, Daniel. stay home until that's faded somewhat. You're not scheduled to go off world until Thursday...”

“Isn't that favorable treatment of a subordinate?”

“More like covering my own ass for fucking my subordinate into oblivion,” Jack said dryly. How could he have been carried away like that? It seemed he had to re-learn some of the rules here. “Memo to self; no more hickeys in visible places.”

“Jack, we've waited for this to happen for...” Daniel shook his head. “It's been two years and eight months for you. For me it was a lot longer. Give yourself a break.”

Jack decided he could do that. This once. He was wonderfully tired and yet he'd never felt this young, this vitalized. In just a couple of hours he was going to be a parent again and in a couple of more hours he was going to be a general again. But right now he was just a guy who'd had a lot of sex in a sort of honeymoon-ish way – with no little thanks to mini-Daniel who had probably sensed the need for these precious two days a long time before Jack and Big Daniel had realized it.

Eventually they took another shower and Daniel put on a black long sleeved turtleneck tee – which turned out to be very efficient in covering the bruise and showing off every bit of Daniel's well trimmed upper body – and a blue loose fitting denim shirt to go with it, which covered all that well trimmed goodness again. Looked stylish though, if maybe a bit overdressed for the middle of June.

Once they were dressed and had disposed of the empty ice cream container and put away the dishes they had just left in the kitchen whenever they felt the need to eat – another sign that Jack's priorities had been elsewhere this weekend – they got ready to leave and pick up Teal'c and the kids. It would probably have been more comfortable for everyone if Daniel stayed home, but somehow, and without saying it out loud, they weren't ready for any kind of separation yet.

As if, once they were going to part ways even for a moment, they'd find themselves waking up from a wonderful dream, realizing it had been just that. A dream. Jack felt a little weird for being this uncharacteristically clingy, but he opted for not questioning it. They had spent two days joined at the hip, getting to know each other again inside out body-wise. It was huge. It was a fucking mile stone.

On their way to Manitou Springs they didn't talk much, but they kept sharing salacious little glances and grins like two guys who shared a dirty, but delicious secret.

It was a relatively cool day for June – which was good for Big D's choice of clothing – but sunny and bright. The small campground was full of families with kids, dogs and more kids. They parked the truck and walked past an old wooden sign leading to the Anasazi dwellings; pueblos built into the red sandstone cliff.

Jack whipped out his phone and called the T-man to let him know they were here and to figure out where exactly the explorer team had pitched the tent.

They were all packed and ready to leave when Jack and Big Daniel reached their spot. The tent was neatly tucked away in it's cover, the ice chest, backpacks and bedrolls stacked by the camping chair Teal'c was sitting in, playing LD's Nintendo. The boys were throwing a frisbee back and forth and Flyboy was busy trying to catch it.

LD saw them coming and threw the frisbee at Jack, who caught it and was immediately taken hostage by the excited dog. After loud and cheerful rounds of greetings they each grabbed a piece of luggage and trudged back to the truck where it took them a while to sort out how to squeeze them all in there. Teal'c went in the passenger seat and Big D climbed into the back with the two boys and the dog. It was crammed but cozy.

Once they were more or less comfortable, Teal'c showed off his miniature wooden kachina doll, which – according to LD – represented one of the Anaszasi spirits. Teal'c's was of the Earth and it looked like a voodoo doll to Jack; ugly, but daintily painted and with a feather headdress.

He wondered briefly if Teal'c had chosen the doll for some cultural reason or just because he liked it. With Teal'c you never knew.

“There was a museum and we were allowed to touch everything! We could even climb into the pueblos and try out the tools. They showed us how to make flour with a pestle and a mortar,” Al shared enthusiastically. Turned out he had a kachina doll, too – representing the sun spirit.

“What's yours?” Jack asked LD.

“The water spirit. And it has two crossed arrows painted on its cheeks and that's the symbol of friendship. In reality the kachinas are much more complex than this and the spirits represent anything from a person that is thought to be a god, to animals and other objects in nature. But I guess they simplified it here for the kids.”

“Mine has the arrows, too,” Al said happily.

“As does mine,” Teal'c provided.

“'Cause we're all friends, right?” Jack grinned and he caught Al's face in the rear view mirror. A slightly smudged little boy's face with bright sparkling eyes and the biggest smile Jack had ever seen on him.

“Yeah,” Al said and blushed a little. “I never had friends before I met Daniel.” Then he went back to chattering about how he had never cooked on a camp stove and how he hadn't screamed when a huge, hideous spider had scuttled over his sleeping bag at night. After LD nudged him a little, he added, “Well, not very loudly anyway.”

“Allistair was very brave on his first camping trip,” Teal'c rumbled. “We had a very relaxing weekend.”

Jack vowed to buy the big guy dinner at the next opportunity even though it wouldn't be enough to convey how grateful he was for Teal'c's quiet strength and the way the man had taken the boys under his wing with such ease. Just by being their part time work out coach and spending time with them, Teal'c had done more for LD and Al over the last year than he probably knew himself.

“We brought kachinas for you guys, too,” LD said. “Kokosori, a fire kachina, for BD and a 'Ruler of the sky' spirit for you, Jack. It represents a man wearing eagle feathers, a Kwahu.”

“We took a hike in the mountains and Murray taught us how to read animals tracks,” Al said. “I wanted to find a bear, but there were only tracks of deer and rabbits. But maybe it's better that way. And we saw eagles. And there was a workshop where we got to make pottery. I made a vase for my mom and Daniel made a jar. We painted our stuff, too.”

And so Jack and Big Daniel got to know all about the spectacular weekend by the time they had dropped Teal'c off at the mountain and a whole lot more details about the spectacular weekend by the time they delivered Al and his gear to his mom who was very happy to know her kid hadn't been eaten by a bear, fallen down a cliff, bitten by killer ants or god-knew-what.

And the Daniels were calling Jack a mother-hen?

They went home and LD searched the dog for tics and burs on the deck while Jack put away the tent and hung the sleeping bag out to air. Daniel had gone on the search for something they could have for dinner.

“Someone is in need of a bath,” Jack said, looking down at the dusty boy and dog sitting on the deck together.

“No tics,” LD announced, letting go of Flyboy who immediately took off into the backyard to make sure no one had entered his territory while he'd been gone. “A bath sounds good.”

“What do you think about a walk-in shower?” Jack asked.

“In our bathroom? You breaking through to the wall closet you never use?”

“Mhh, thinking about it. Can't give you a second bathroom though.”

“We don't need one. Just kick BD out of bed earlier,” LD said with a grin. Then he put on the patented Little Daniel look. The one that made him appear all nine-years, cute and innocent. “You two had a nice weekend?”

“You could say that, yep.” Jack parked his butt on the edge of the wooden deck table, trying not to wince. He was getting old. Or he had to get used again to certain activities.

“How nice?”

“Nice enough,” he said casually.

“Peaceful, quiet and relaxing?”

Jack cocked his head and considered just saying 'yes' and tell him not to be noisy. The kid wasn't going to buy the 'peaceful and quiet' part going by the knowing little grin underneath the wide-eyed-innocent facade.

Jack could still just say 'yes' and it would be okay. But in a way LD had enabled them to get back their love life by giving them the space and time to figure it out without any restrictions. They could do quiet and civilized love making at nights while the kid was around. It wasn't as though Daniel didn't know what happened in the bedroom. Jack guessed that, in a way, LD's understanding and insight of his and BD's relationship would always be a bit Twilight Zone. But his complicated, so often troubled, and yet incredibly great kid had been such an active and positive part of making this weird family dynamic work that Jack felt he had a right to know the truth.

A downplayed version of that truth.

“Try enlightening, wild and,” 'hot' was the word he wanted to use. “tingly,” he said.

“Sizzling hot?” Daniel asked. “I noticed the turtleneck.”

Jack glared, then smirked. “Incredibly hot. And that's as much detail as you're going to get.”

“I also noticed that look on your faces,” Daniel went on. “You know, the one that says; I've been fu...”

“Aht! Go! Take a bath! I need to help the other you with dinner,” Jack groused, grabbing the brat by the back of his sweatshirt and hauling him to his feet.

“Relax. I don't WANT any details. That's way TMI. But you're hilarious when you're spooked.” Easily dodging the swat aimed at the back of his head, Daniel slipped away and inside, giggling buoyantly.

Flyboy came back, dropped at Jack's feet, rolled over and gave him puppy eyes.

“You know why dogs are my favorite people?” Jack asked, crouching by the black beast to deliver the requested belly rub. “They're simple, like me. They don't try to talk rings around me. You're a good boy. Nice and easy.”

Flyboy tilted his head to look at Jack who winced as he stood with creaking knees. “C'mon, let's go and annoy Big Daniel for a change.”

With a happy “Woof” Flyboy took lead and Jack went after him to find his SO standing in the pantry, scowling at a package of Hamburger Helper's Mac'n Cheese in one hand and a package of Tuna Helper's something in the other.

“Whatcha doing?” Jack asked, sliding up behind Daniel and wrapping both arms around his middle.

“Trying to decide what kind of poison we'll have for dinner,” Daniel muttered.

“That's just the emergency rations,” Jack murmured, nuzzling a spot behind Daniel's left ear.

“Then we are in big need of groceries. There's not even pizza in the freezer,” Daniel said, tilting his head to give Jack better access.

“Was busy this weekend,” Jack said. “I'm a general. Very busy man here.” He started to gently nibble at Daniel's neck, loving how his lover's breath hitched.

“Where's Daniel?”

“Taking a bath. Might take a while.”

Daniel turned his head and Jack stole a kiss, then another one, until Daniel dropped the Hamburger and Tuna Helpers and turned around in his arms so they could do this properly.

“Ordering pizza?” Daniel asked after a moment when they took an air break.

“Yeahsureyabetcha.”

God, Jack loved kissing Daniel. How he could have lived two years and eight months without this, he didn't know.

Now he had him back. And thanks to whatever fate was playing its hand here he had been gifted with the best of both worlds. Something like that usually only happened in the movies.

He didn't know if he deserved this. He hoped he'd be able to hold on to it, to protect and preserve it. He'd screwed up and lost a family once and he was too much of a realist to believe he had control over life, fate or aliens wanting to take this family away from him, too. But he was going to try his best to not let it happen.

 _They_ were going to try their best.

Jack O'Neill considered himself one lucky SOB.

  


**Epilogue**

**Paris**

  


The heavy doors of St. Julien's closed behind him and he took a deep breath, embracing the familiar smell of candle wax, burnt incenses and old wood. The candles were already lit today. Maybe there had been an evening service and the sexton hadn't snuffed them out yet.

The church was empty though and Adam went to sit in his favorite chair on the front row, enjoying the couple of minutes he was going to have to himself before...

She was early.

An air shift and a low breeze caused the candles to flicker, then she slipped into the chair beside his, taking human form as easily as if she had never been stripped of her powers. “You keep coming back here. Why?”

He shrugged. Maybe he was nostalgic after all. “I like this place. And it was you who wanted to see me.”

“Yes, but you chose the place.” She smiled. “Is it Darius you miss, or Duncan?”

Oh, he missed Darius, yes. Darius had been one of them. An Immortal. A punished Ancient, without knowing about it. He'd been two thousand years old and had rejected being part of the game and retreated to live as a monk 1500 years ago. He had been the light and soul of St. Julien's – until he had been killed after all. Yes, he missed Darius.

However, he missed Duncan more.

If he was brutally honest with himself.

But that was neither here nor there.

To Cassandra he said, “What is so important that you had to see me?”

“I have spoken with Oma, Aiyana and Ganos Lal,” she started and Adam groaned.

“Haven't you been punished enough? Do you ever learn?” He flailed his hands at the church at large, embracing the whole universe in that one gesture. “The Others will stop you again if you keep messing with them. And I might not be so inclined to help you out next time.”

She threw back her ginger hair. “Haven't _you_ learned anything, Methos? The boy is right when he says The Others do more harm than good with the non-interference rule when it concerns the universe at large. If so many lives are threatened by a race such as the Replicators – a race we have created, which makes us responsible – we must step in. Even Anubis, even the Goa'uld, should never have become as powerful as they had. We meddled with those Ta'uri's lives because we weren't allowed to interfere in the natural course of things. And that is a paradox! Because if we hadn't interfered by guiding them...” she let her eyes swipe across the church, “...all this would be gone now. And it would have been easier to just eliminate Anubis ourselves. Or the Replicators. Easier than pushing the Tau'ri into doing it for us.”

“Anubis was Oma's punishment for messing with him in the first place.”

“And do you not see how wrong that is? To punish so many for what she has done? For allowing him to do his evil for so long?” Cassandra jumped from her chair, enraged and apparently unable to sit still. “Don't you SEE how arrogant they are? How indifferent to everything but their own rules – which only serves to keep them from having to deal with anything but their own stagnated ways!”

Methos threw his head back and stared at the vaulted ceiling. “WHAT,” he boomed, “will you have me DO?!” His reverberant voice was thunderous in the small hall of the church.

“Help us!”

“What?! _Again_?” He let out a short disbelieving laugh. “You can't be serious.”

“You have come,” she reminded him. “You agreed to this meeting because you KNOW it is time for change. If we could help some of our own to ascend again...”

“All right.” He stood, too, facing her. Anger was getting the better of him, but right now he didn't care. “Tell me, Cassandra, what do you expect me to do? End the game? Ascend all the Immortals just like _this?_ ” He snapped his fingers. The candlelight flared up and the old pipe organ emitted a dissonant deep tone. “It will mean chaos and you know it. They are not aware of who they are and even IF we could gather and explain it to them all, they are not trained, not schooled. There are some truly wacko guys out there. You want some of _them_ to ascend and create havoc?!”

She shook her head. “No. It will take time. And it is not our first goal right now.”

“Then what? Because the Replicators are gone, the Goa'uld are defeated. The lower plane people have made a clean sweep. What else do you want?”

“The Wraith. The Ori. There is more evil in this universe we need to attend to,” Cassandra said. “We shouldn't abandon the Tau'ri to deal with all this alone.”

“The Tau'ri are doing just fine on their own. And what about the Asgard? They should be grateful that someone kicked the Replicator's asses. Thor's people should finally repay them by starting to protect Earth.”

“It is not about this world alone and you know it.” Cassandra whirled around and started pacing the wide space between the front row of seats and the altar.

Yes, yes, yes he knew it.

He didn't want anything to do with it, but yes – he had agreed to meet her, knowing it was going to mean trouble again.

Why had he even considered coming here?

Because he couldn't stand the thought that a snotty little kid from the lower planes seemed to have more guts and courage than him? And when had something insignificant like that ever bothered him before? When had his conscience decided to come back and bite him?

“Hear me out,” Cassandra said sharply.

He waved at her in a resigned 'go on' gesture.

“You can't stop the game, we know that. All those Immortals The Others punished – they can't be mentored over night. This is why we want to find those who are already worthy to ascend. Those who are pure at heart. We want to recruit them, to make them see who they really are. And in time, maybe, we can help others to retake ascended form. It will take many many lifetimes to accomplish that. But it is worth trying.”

Methos closed his eyes briefly. “Duncan.”

“Yes. You must talk to him. Joe knows where he is.”

“And what do you gain from this? From having Duncan and a couple of others like him ascend?”

“Adjustment. A new balance. Shake The Others awake. Make them see there can be progress in change. And if we grow in numbers, we can make a difference despite The Others trying to stop us.”

“You want Duncan McLeod as your new leader,” Methos concluded. “Once he's learned all he needs to know he'll be the natural choice. He is just like that Daniel Jackson double-trouble dream team.”

“Which is what makes him so special,” Cassandra said with a knowing smile on her lips.

Special? McLeod was special alright.

Methos had lived all those lives, always meeting new people, seeing new places, adapting to new situations. And after a while it had gotten to be pretty much the old, same old, life in a new dress. Yes, he had studied, learned, educated himself in all ways possible. He had loved men and women, had hated men and women sometimes, too. Fought the fight of the evil and the fight of the good. He had experimented with sex, drugs and Rock'n Roll and seen, heard and done most things that were worth doing.

He had met Socrates, Cleopatra, had been friends with Byron and so many others. Great men and women with well deserved places in Earth history. Yet, he'd never met anyone quite like Duncan. Except for those Daniels maybe.

Duncan had always been so damn good and noble. A boy scout. He was in the game, oh, yes. Was good, too. Razor sharp reflexes, never turned his back on you, never let his training slide. He had taken many heads. But never randomly, never just-so, never without a reason. Never without losing his conscience. And Duncan had suffered under the curse of having to play the game, had tried to stay out of it. Because he was too damn good for this world.

And pure at heart.

It was that damn purity that had drawn Methos to Duncan. And pushed him away. Time and again. Duncan's ability to make him take a good look at himself and not always liking what he saw. Duncan had brought the best and the worst out in him, just like those Daniels seemed to bring out the best and the worst in Jack O'Neill.

“You can tell him everything and help him ascend. He will trust you. And then he can speak on our behalf to The Others when the time comes for us to face them openly. If there will be such a time.”

“What? Like a liaison between The Others and the new kids on the block?”

“Yes.” She smiled at him now.

“That may take a couple of hundred years. Or thousand,” he muttered.

“That is just as well. We also need you to keep the Ori at bay.”

Methos shook his head. No. No way. “I'm not going back to Altera. I helped you save Earth so I could stay here, not because I want to romp around the universe and fight our crazy brothers and sisters on Altera. Hollowed are the Ori? Come on, that's sooo freaky.” Was he whining? Maybe. Did he care? No.

“That's why they have to be stopped. Or at least kept away from this galaxy,” Cassandra said. Then she added. “It would be a good way to teach Duncan his origin and make him see what we are fighting against. You could take him with you.”

“I could also blast you out of here and into a galaxy far far away just so you stop bothering me,” he snarled.

“But you won't. Go, find Duncan. Keep doing the right thing. Oh, and there is something else we need to discuss.”

He sighed. “What now?”

“Anubis... I haven't sensed him, but surely his energy is now freed from its shield and part of his essence might have survived.”

“Nothing of Anubis survived,” he said.

“You don't know that. If he somehow finds a body to slip into, even if he is just floating in space now...”

Methos shook his head. “There's nothing left.”

She stared at him. “You destroyed it.”

He shrugged. “Maybe one of O'Neill's drones tore him apart and the part of him that was ascended vaporized in space. Or maybe his energy got trapped in the wreckage of his ship and somehow ended up in a black hole some galaxies away. Who knows?”

Cassandra smiled and nodded. Suddenly she turned to him, standing _on tip toe_ and kissing his cheek. “Thank you for giving me back my life,” she whispered and turned away.

He could hear her fast light steps echoing on the stone tiled floor as she left, still in her human form.

He stared at the candles for a moment.

Then he turned and left St. Julien's. The candles flickered and went out, plunging the church into darkness.

He sat in his car, starting the CD player without pressing a button. Queen. Princes of the Universe.

Oh, they had been good together, Methos and Duncan. Dysfunctional, yes. But also good. If Methos was to go out there again to fight the good fight, who better to do it with than boy scout McLeod?

With a sigh he started his car.

  


Joe looked up from tapping a beer and grinned. “Adam!”

“Hey, Joe. You got any Guinness?” He slid onto a bar stool and started flipping pistachios into his mouth, from a bowl on the bar.

The Guinness was tapped and placed in front of him. “How's it going?”

 _Come on, Joe, ask the question._ “Oh, you know... same old, same old.”

There was a band playing. Blues. Not bad. But nothing like Queen and The Rolling Stones.

Joe grinned and started washing glasses. “How long are you going to stay?”

“I don't know. A while, maybe. Maybe not.” Methos drank his beer. Somehow he was grateful he could still drink his beer. If it wasn't for SG-1 he might have been forced to return to The Others by now because Earth would have been Replicator-ized. Or vaporized. Or enslaved. Or one thing after the other, not necessarily in that order.

At least, if he decided to take Duncan to Altera he could return to this world he had called home for the last couple of million years.

“Any particular reason you're back?” Joe asked the question.

Methos opened his mouth to reply in his usual fashion. No, just saying hi. No, just because. What came out of it was. “You heard from Duncan lately?”

Joe cocked his head and there was a twinkle in his eyes. “Yeah. As a matter of fact, I have.”

“Where is he?”

“You really want to know? Well, it's about time. It's been...”

“Seven years since we last spoke, yes, I know.” Methos didn't want to go into a discussion about what had estranged them and why he was going to try and amend that now.

Joe put the glasses upside down to dry. “He's back in Paris, too. Actually, you just missed him.”

Methos put his beer down. “You don't say.”

“Yeah. Yeah, he was here an hour or so ago. He said something about meeting Cassandra somewhere tomorrow. You have any idea what's going on?”

Methos snorted. That little witch... “No. Not a clue. But, hey, I gotta go.” He threw some money on the bar, but Joe rolled his eyes and shook his head.

“On the house.”

“Thanks. Does he still live on...”

“Yeah. Same address.”

Methos swallowed down the rest of his beer and left Joe's with a welcoming tingly feeling in his guts that surprised and amused him.

They would have a lot to catch up on.

Maybe the little Doctor Jackson was right. Maybe Cassandra, Oma and their merry band of rebellious little Ancients were worth a fighting chance. Maybe trying to make the universe a better place – at least for a while – wasn't such a hideous thing after all.

Oh, Duncan was going to be overjoyed to see him. He didn't know it yet, but Methos had a hell of a surprise for him; a free ticket to what Jack O'Neill would call glowy land.

An Indian politician named Jawaharlal Nehru once said; Life is like a game of cards. The hand you are dealt is determinism; the way you play it is free will.

Could be fun.

The End.

 

This Series has originally been started in July 2005 and ended in November 2012

**Author's Note:**

> I feel like saying something profound here... nothing comes to mind :) :) 
> 
> I've been living with these guys in my head for seven years and I've not only loved every moment of it, I've also learned a hell of a lot about how to write in a language that isn't my own. Thanks to all the help and gentle teachings of my lovely betas and friends I managed to turn this series into something readable over the years. You know who you are and I love you all from the bottom of my heart.
> 
> I love this fandom. I have made friends for life through SG-1 and for that I will always be grateful.
> 
> It is hard for me to let the SJD guys go so maybe I will go back in a couple of years, to see how they are doing and what they are up to. But at this point I'm very happy to call this series 'complete'. It's a huge accomplishment in many ways.
> 
> Thank you, everyone who has stayed with me and the guys over the years and kept sending me feedback and kudos. And thank you to everyone who is still reading them and I'd appreciate to hear from you if you liked them a little bit. 
> 
> Hugs,  
> Anne


End file.
